Barack Obama

Barack Obama
This page intentionally left blank

Barack Obama
THE VOICE OF AN AMERICAN LEADER
Joann F. Price
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Price, Joann F.
Barack Obama : the voice of an American leader / Joann F. Price.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-36236-1 (alk. paper)
1. Obama, Barack—Quotations. 2. Obama, Barack—Political and social views.
3. Legislators—United States—Quotations. 4. Legislators—Illinois—Quotations.
5. Presidential candidates—United States—Quotations. 6. Presidents—United States—
Election—2008—Quotations, maxims, etc. 7. United States—Politics and government—
2001—Quotations, maxims, etc. 8. Illinois—Politics and government—1951—
Quotations, maxims, etc. 9. United States—Social conditions—1980—Quotations,
maxims, etc. 10. Racially mixed people—United States—Quotations. I. Title.
E901.1.O23P755 2009
328.73092—dc22 2008035007
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright
C 2009 by Joann F. Price
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be

reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2008035007
ISBN: 978-0-313-36236-1
First published in 2009
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
www.greenwood.com
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the

Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48-1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Bob, always
and to Holly, love from the first moment
Contents
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1
On Heritage, Marriage, and Children 7
CHAPTER 2
On Community Organizing and Activism
and Accepting the Call to Serve 25
CHAPTER 3
On Illinois State Politics 47
CHAPTER 4
On U.S. Senate Politics 59
CHAPTER 5
On the Campaign for the Presidency and
the Concerns and Criticisms of His Campaign 71
CHAPTER 6
On the Issues 113
CHAPTER 7
The Youth Vote in the 2008 Campaign 143
CHAPTER 8
On Race and Faith 151
Conclusion 183
Bibliography 191
Index 203
vii
Introduction
‘‘In no other country on earth is my story even possible.’’1

Introduction 3
By any measure, the 2008 presidential race has been historic, but it has
also created an enthusiasm and a higher degree of interest in politics
few have seen before. For a sense of what has transpired in this race
and the reasons for, at least in part, how this race is different from
others in America’s history, this book looks at one candidate, Barack
Obama, from the perspective of quotations presented in thematic chap-
ters on topics ranging from heritage and family to state and national
politics and race and religion. These quotations by and about Obama,
the first African American to be his party’s presidential nominee, pro-
vides a look at the candidate who would face Republican John McCain,
the senator from Arizona, in the general election.
The primary season for the 2008 campaign for the presidency began
earlier than any other election in history and would take nearly two years
to play out. As a crowded field of candidates on both sides of the political
aisle announced their intention to run for their party’s nomination, many
braced themselves for a long, arduous campaign. However, as the season
got underway and progressed, many in America were surprised by what
was taking shape. While there were many of the usual candidates in the
race, this time there were two new politicians making a bid for the highest
office in the land. For the first time in history, a woman and a black man
were in the race; both were viable candidates and both had clear shots at
winning the nomination. In a short while, they were the Democratic
Party’s frontrunners. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama
each made the race historic, and for many voters, very compelling. People
all across the country were enthusiastic, and the world noticed. All across
America, people were talking and listening and getting involved.
As the primary season got underway, with the first caucus in Iowa
and the first primary in New Hampshire held in early January 2008,
the candidates took their message from state to state. Throughout the
primary season, people stood for hours in searing heat, blowing snow,
drenching rain, and frigid cold and waited in venues so crowded that
the overflow had to stand outside. It wasn’t enough just to attend cau-
cuses and vote in primaries; it was also important to speak up and get
involved. In rural communities and urban areas, in crowded neighbor-
hoods and inner cities, on farmlands and on sidewalks, people were get-
ting involved in huge numbers not seen before.
The enthusiasm in the election for the presidency was no doubt
created in part by a phenomenon known as Barack Obama. Because of
4 BARACK OBAMA: THE VOICE OF AN AMERICAN LEADER
this tall, lanky freshman senator from Illinois, something changed in

American politics. There was an energy few had seen or felt before, and
it meant that perhaps there might be a new vision of America around
the world. As the primary and caucus calendar progressed, candidates
in both parties dropped out of the race, and for the Democrats, the
campaign became a contest between Barack Obama and Hillary Clin-
ton. And while John McCain became the presumptive nominee for the
Republican Party fairly early in the process, the Obama and Clinton
campaigns continued primary after primary, caucus after caucus. Sup-
porters for both candidates fought on too. They campaigned, donated,
and attended rallies. People registered in record numbers to vote and
participated in their state’s primary or caucus. Both candidates
stumbled, both candidates tried to stick to the issues, and both candi-
dates wanted desperately to win. There was talk about a ‘‘dream ticket’’
where one would be president and the other vice president, and while
many voters and pundits liked this idea, no one knew who would be at
the top of the ticket and who would be the running mate. Neither
candidate wanted to address this possibility; both were sure they were
the best candidate to be president.
It was Representative John Lewis, a civil rights icon and one of
America’s most influential black congressmen, who said of Obama:
‘‘Something’s happening in America, something some of us did not see
coming. Barack Obama has tapped into something that is extraordi-
nary.’’2 It is because of this ‘‘something extraordinary’’ that a look at the
candidate that some describe as the most charismatic politician to come
along in a very long time is appropriate. It is because the campaign
coincides with a time that most recognize as one of the most crucial
and difficult in our nation’s history. Indeed, the next president will have
the job of directing the country through many difficult issues
(including two wars, a strained, tumultuous economy, and a planet in
peril) and restoring America’s stature in the world. Thus, getting to
know Obama through what he has to say about his life and the issues
of the day and what others have to say about him and the issues is
compelling. The quotations, with introductions that preface each chap-
ter, cover Obama’s heritage, family, years in state and national office,
his run for the presidency, the issues of the day, community activism
and service, and race, country, and citizenship. There are certainly
many more quotations that could have been included; however, this is
Introduction 5
meant to be a sample of what has been said by and about the man that
has helped create a grassroots movement in American politics and has
caused a stir in this country and around the world.
At the Commencement Address at Knox College in Galesburg, Illi-
nois on June 4, 2005, Obama said, ‘‘The true test of the American
ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise
together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow our-
selves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape
them.’’3
NOTES
1. Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention, July 27, 2004.
2. Tim Reid and Tom Baldwin, ‘‘Hillary Clinton suffers new blow as civil rights icon
says he’s seen the light,’’ TimesOnline, February 28, 2008, http://www.timesonline.
co.uk (accessed February 28, 2008).
3. Barack Obama, ‘‘Commencement Address, Knox College, June 4, 2005,’’ http://
www.americanrhetoric.com (accessed June 11, 2008).
CHAPTER 1
On Heritage, Marriage,
and Children
‘‘What’s interesting is how deeply American I feel, considering

this exotic background. Some of it is the Midwestern roots of
my grandparents, my mother, and the values that they reflect.
But some of it is also a deep abiding sense that what is quintes-
sentially American, is all these different threads coming together
to make a single quilt. And I feel very much like I’m one of
those threads that belong in this quilt, that I’m a product of all
these different forces, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, Native
American. That, somehow, all this amalgam is part of who I
am, and that’s part of the reason I love this country so much.’’1
‘‘My experience growing up in Indonesia or having family in

small villages in Africa—I think makes me much more mindful
of the importance of issues like personal security or freedom
from corruption. I’ve witnessed it in much more direct ways
than I think the average American has witnessed it.’’2
Introduction
Until Barack Obama made his historic speech at the Democratic

National Convention on July 27, 2004, few knew him. He began the
speech by saying, ‘‘Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s
face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely.’’ In the speech, Bar-
ack introduced himself to the country and to the world. The son of a
white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, Barack told
his unique story, a story of growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia; about
being raised by his mother and her parents, Madelyn (Toots) and Stan-
ley Dunham, after his father returned to Africa when he was just 2 years
old. Barack told the stories of his father’s large African family that he
came to know as an adult. In his electrifying speech that night, and in
speeches, interviews, and town hall meetings ever since, Obama has
introduced himself to the nation and the world as he talks about his
dreams and his abiding faith in the possibilities of the United States of
America. A mixed heritage, a love of family, a love of country, and a
political career that in just a few years has taken flight like few have
seen or can comprehend, this is, in his words and the words of many
others, the story in quotations of the life of Barack Obama.
On His Heritage
I was raised as an Indonesia child and a Hawaiian child and as a

black child and as a white child. And so what I benefit from is a
multiplicity of cultures that all fed me.3
I’m clear about my own identity. I do think that I’ve become a

receptacle for a lot of other people’s issues that they need to
work out … I’ve been living with this stuff my whole life.4
I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac and I’ve got relatives
who look like Margaret Thatcher. So we’ve got it all.5
In his speech at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004,

Barack said, ‘‘My parents shared not only an improbable love; they
shared an abiding faith in the possibilities of this nation. They would
give me an African name, Barack, or ‘blessed,’ believing that in a toler-

ant America your name is no barrier to success.’’
Barack’s father returned to Kenya when Barack was just two years
old. In December 2007, Barack said that thoughts of his father would
‘‘bubble up,’’ memories would come to him at different moments, at
any course of the day or week. ‘‘I think about him often.… Men often
long for their fathers’ approval, to shine in their fathers’ light.’’ And
when Barack Obama was asked how he feels about his father today, and
asked what is the dominant emotion within these thoughts, he answered,
‘‘I didn’t know him well enough to be angry at him as a father. Mostly I
feel a certain sadness for him, and the way that his life ended up unful-
filled, despite his enormous talents.’’6 About his father, Obama said,
He was somebody who I think genuinely loved [his wife] but was
also somebody who was more interested in his career and pursuing
his ambitions, than he was caring for a family. [My mother] could
have been bitter, but she didn’t communicate that to me. She would
talk about how smart he was, and how generous he was, and how
charismatic he was, and for a little boy, that’s actually a good
thing.… Some of my drive comes from wanting to prove that he
should have stuck around, that I was worthy of his attention.7
When Barack Obama visited his step-grandmother’s compound on his

first trip to Kenya, he said,
It wasn’t simply joy that I felt in each of these moments. Rather, it was
a sense that everything I was doing, every touch and breath and word,
carried the full weight of my life; that a circle was beginning to close, so
that I might finally recognize myself as I was, here, now, in one place.8
After hearing the stories Obama said he felt dizzy with all of the new
information about his father and his extended African family. All his
life he had carried an image of his father. Barack Obama had not seen
‘‘his father shrunken or sick, his hopes ended or changed, his face full
of regret or grief.’’ It was his father’s image, a black man from Africa,
that he sought for himself and his father’s voice remained ‘‘untainted,
inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval.’’9
Sarah Onyango Obama, Barack’s Kenyan step-grandmother said, ‘‘I
have had a dream you see, a recurring dream.… I have seen Barack
surrounded by soldiers in dress uniform. At first I did not understand

it, but now I realize it is because he is president.’’ Sarah Obama added,
Here we all believe education is the key … his father had always talked
about how well he was doing at school. When he came to stay with us
the first time it must have been difficult, but he never let it show. He
ate the same food as the rest of us, eggs, goat, sometimes fish.
Barack Obama’s Kenyan uncle, Hussein Obama, said of Barack on his

visit to Kenya: ‘‘We toured all the slums together. It was an eye-opening
experience.… He is a role model and an achiever.’’10
Barack’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama Soetoro, told Barack
he should follow his father’s example, that he had no choice because it
was in his very genes. She said, ‘‘You have me to thank for your eye-
brows … but your brains, your character, you got from him.’’ She
brought home books on the civil rights movement, recordings of Maha-
lia Jackson, and the speeches of Martin Luther King. She told Barack
stories of the schoolchildren in the south, and how although they had
to read the books discarded by the white children, they went on to be
successful doctors and lawyers. She added, ‘‘To be black was to be the
beneficiary of a great inheritance, a special destiny, glorious burdens
that only we were strong enough to bear.’’11
When Barack Obama was six years old, his mother married Lolo
Soetoro, an Indonesian student at the University of Hawaii. Barack
moved with his mother to Indonesia.
I have wonderful memories of the place [Indonesia], but there’s no

doubt that, at some level, I understood that I was different. It meant
that I was, maybe, not part of the community as much as I might
have been, otherwise. On the other hand, it also gave me an appreci-
ation of what it means to be an American.12
Barack turned to his stepfather, Lolo, for guidance and instruction.

When Lolo explained the scars on his legs that came from the leeches
that stuck to him as he and his fellow soldiers marched through the
swamps in New Guinea, he told Barry (Barack’s childhood name) that
it hurt when the skin was singed after using a hot knife. He said,
‘‘Sometimes you can’t worry about hurt. Sometimes you worry only
about getting where you have to go.’’ When he spoke of killing
someone, he told Barry that he killed a man because the man was weak,
and added, ‘‘Men take advantage of weakness in other men … better to
be strong … if you can’t be strong, be clever and make peace with some-
one who’s strong … but always better to be strong yourself. Always.’’13
Barack attended a Catholic school when he lived in Indonesia. His
first grade teacher, Israella Pareira Darmawan, said, ‘‘He would be very
helpful with friends. He’d pick them up if they fell down. He would
protect the smaller ones.’’14 Obama’s third grade teacher said that in an
essay about what he wanted to be when he grew up, Barack wrote that
he wanted to be president. ‘‘He didn’t say what country he wanted to
be president of. But he wanted to make everybody happy.’’15
Barack Obama’s boyhood experiences in Indonesia gave him a world
view. He said in December 1995:
The poverty, the corruption, the constant scramble for security …

remained all around me and bred a relentless skepticism. My mother’s
confidence in needlepoint virtues depended on a faith I didn’t pos-
sess.… In a land where fatalism remained a necessary tool for enduring
hard-ship … she was a lonely witness for secular humanism, a soldier
for New Deal, Peace Corps, position-paper liberalism.16
When Barack Obama was ten years old, his mother sent him back to
Hawaii to live with her parents, deciding he needed to go to an Ameri-
can school. She stayed behind with Barack’s half-sister, Maya, promising
her young son that she and his sister would soon follow. Maya Soetoro-
Ng said of Barack, their mother, and their grandparents,
Looking back now, I’d say he really is kind of the perfect combination
of all of them. All of them were imperfect but all of them loved him
fiercely, and I believe he took the best qualities from each of them.17
Neil Abercrombie, a Democratic congressman from Hawaii who

knew Barack Obama, his mother, and his grandparents, said of Stanley
Dunham, Barack’s grandfather, ‘‘Stanley loved that little boy. In the
absence of his father, there was not a kinder, more understanding man
than Stanley Dunham. He was loving and generous.’’18
After her divorce from Lolo Soetoro, Barack’s mother returned to
her studies at the University of Hawaii. She eventually returned to
Indonesia to complete her fieldwork in anthropology, taking Maya with
her. Barack stayed in Hawaii, choosing to remain with his grandparents

and graduate from high school. Barack said of this arrangement: ‘‘I doubted
what Indonesia now had to offer and wearied of being new all over again.
More than that, I’d arrived at an unspoken pact with my grandparents: I
could live with them and they’d leave me alone so long as I kept my trou-
ble out of sight.’’ Barack said during those years, he was ‘‘engaged in a fitful
interior struggle. I was trying to raise myself to be a black man in America.’’
Maya recalled her mother’s quandary over leaving Barack in Hawaii:
She wanted him to be with her. Although it was painful to be sepa-

rated from him for his last four years of high school, she recognized
that it was perhaps the best thing for him. And she had to go to
Indonesia at that time … There were certainly times in his life in
those four years when he could have used her presence on a more
daily basis. But I think he did all right for himself.19
Maya said of their mother, ‘‘She gave us a very broad understanding of

the world. She hated bigotry. She was very determined to be remembered
for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure
of a life.’’20 Barack Obama said of being raised in a secular home:
My mother saw religion as an impediment to broader values, like tol-

erance and racial inclusivity. She remembered church going folks [in
Kansas and Texas] who also called people niggers. But she was a
deeply spiritual person, and when I moved to Chicago [after graduat-
ing from Columbia] and worked with church-based community
organizations, I kept hearing her values expressed in the church.21
Barack’s half-sister, Maya, remembers Barack’s high school days: ‘‘He

had powers. He was charismatic. He had lots of friends. In high school,
he used to stroll over to the Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii
to ‘meet university ladies.’ ’’22
Obama’s mother often wrote letters to her son about her life in Indo-
nesia and her work there. She also sent him advice about his future,
mixing encouragement with laments about American politics. She
wrote in one of her letters:
It is a shame we have to worry so much about [grade point], but you

know what the college entrance competition is these days. Did you
know that in Thomas Jefferson’s day, and right up through the

1930s, anybody who had the price of tuition could go to Harvard? I
don’t see that we are producing many Thomas Jeffersons nowadays.
Instead we are producing Richard Nixons.23
Barack Obama remembered his mother this way:

When I think about my mother, I think that there was a certain combi-
nation of being very grounded in who she was, what she believed in.
But also a certain recklessness. I think she was always searching for some-
thing. She wasn’t comfortable seeing her life confined in a certain box.24
Many of Barack Obama’s mother’s friends have seen much of Ann in

Barack—in his self-assurance and drive, his boundary bridging, even his
apparent comfort with strong women. One friend said, ‘‘When Barack
smiles, there’s just a certain Ann look. He lights up in a particular way
that she did. There is this thing in his eyes.’’25 Obama’s mother died of
ovarian cancer in 1995. Barack said of her:
I think sometimes that had I known she would not survive her ill-
ness, I might have written a different book—less a meditation on the
absent parent, more a celebration of the one who was the single con-
stant in my life. I know that she was the kindest, most generous spi-
rit I have ever known, and that what is best in me I owe to her.26
Nancy Barry, former president of Women’s World Banking where Oba-

ma’s mother worked in the early 1990s, said of Ann Obama Soetoro,
‘‘She was a very, very big thinker. I think she was not at all personally
ambitious, I think she cared about the core issues, and I think she was
not afraid to speak truth to power.’’27
Barack Obama says his mother taught him what she thought of as
Midwestern, traditional American values—honesty, fairness, and plain
speaking.
She believed in saying what you mean and meaning what you say,
even if it made a situation uncomfortable. To her that was part of
her American tradition that she was proud of, and she wanted to
make sure that was part of me.28
The dedication in his book The Audacity of Hope reads: ‘‘To the women
who raised me—My maternal grandmother, Tutu, who’s been a rock of
stability throughout my life, and my mother, whose loving spirit sus-

tains me still.’’29
Obama’s half-sister, Maya, remembers their mother:
She felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we

might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to rep-
resent who we are at the core. That was very much her philosophy of
life—to not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build
walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty
in unexpected places.30
David Axelrod, Obama’s long-time friend and presidential campaign

advisor said of Barack: ‘‘People measure experience in different ways. I
think we’re all an amalgam of all our experiences. And his are extremely
varied and rich.’’31
On Marriage and Family
Throughout their marriage, as Obama made decisions in his political

life, including his run for the Illinois state senate, when he made his
first bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, when he decided to try
again for national office by running for the open U.S. Senate seat, and
before he decided to run for the 2008 presidency, there was always
much to consider. He met with friends, his team of advisors, and tested
the waters, but more important, he discussed such momentous deci-
sions with Michelle.
On meeting Barack, Michelle Obama said she was ready to ‘‘write
him off ’’ before she first met him. ‘‘His name was Barack Obama, and
I thought, ‘Well, I’m sure this guy is weird, right?’’ And when she
learned he grew up in Hawaii and spent his formative years on an
island, she thought, ‘‘Well, you’ve got to be a little nuts.’’ Barack, she
says, quickly changed her mind after their first conversation.32
Barack Obama said he was mesmerized by Michelle and vowed to
go out on a date with her. According to her,
He made the first move. I was skeptical at first; everyone was raving
about this smart, attractive, young first-year associate they recruited
from Harvard. Everyone was like, ‘‘Oh, he’s brilliant, he’s amazing
and he’s attractive.’’ I said, okay, this is probably just a Brother who
can talk straight. Then I heard that he grew up in Hawaii. Weird
background, so I said he’s probably a little odd, strange. I already
had in my mind that this guy was going to be lame. Then we went
to lunch that first day and I was really impressed. First, he was more
attractive than his picture. He came in confident, at ease with him-
self. He was easy to talk to and had a good sense of humor.
Michelle also says she was impressed with Barack’s commitment to the
community, yet for a month, she refused to go out with him.33
Barack has written candidly about the strains a political career has
put on his marriage and his family.
Leaning down to kiss Michelle goodbye in the morning, all I would

get was a peck on the cheek. By the time Sasha was born—just as
beautiful, and almost as calm as her sister—my wife’s anger toward
me seemed barely contained.34
Mutual respect is important to Michelle. She says of her husband:
He’s my biggest cheerleader, as a mother, as a wife and as a career

person. He is always telling me how great I’m doing. That helps keep
you going when you realize that you have someone who appreciates
all the hard work that you are doing.35
Before Christmas 2006, Barack and Michelle met with their team of
advisors to discuss throwing his hat in the ring. One of the advisors
noted that, ‘‘He was very worried about what this was going to do to
his family. I think Michelle at that point was very dubious, not at all
enthusiastic about his running.’’36
As with most couples, the Obamas have weathered difficult times.
Of the time just after their first daughter was born, Barack says:
I was just getting into politics. There were a lot of stresses and
strains. We didn’t have a lot of money. I couldn’t be as supportive of
her at home as I wanted to be … but she knows how deeply I love
her and the girls. I try to be more thoughtful. Sometimes it is just
the little gestures that make a big difference.37
After thoroughly discussing the implications of his running for the

presidency, Michelle had the final say on Barack throwing his hat
into the presidential race. She said, ‘‘I never had a doubt about what
Barack could offer, and that’s what kind of spiraled me out of my own
doubt. I don’t want to be the person that holds back a potential answer
to the nation’s challenges.’’ Of her husband’s run for the presidency,
Michelle said,
It’s important at this time for people to feel like they own this
process and that they don’t turn it over to the next messiah, who’s
going to fix it all, you know? And then we’re surprised when people
turn out not to be who we’ve envisioned them to be. There is special-
ness to him. If he’s doing his job, he’s going to say things that you
don’t agree with.38
The impact of a presidential race on his family concerned Barack;

however, the opportunity of running for president proved to be irresist-
ible. He said that what tipped the balance were the crowds.
After seeing the response I was getting around the country, I had to
step back and ask: Is there something about my message that is suffi-
ciently unique and could potentially be useful enough to moving the
country forward? And, ultimately, the answer was yes.39
Michelle had reservations about entering the campaign. She said,
I, like most people, have been very cynical and reluctant about politics.
You know, politics is a nasty business, and you don’t hold out hope that
fairness will win, that truth and justice carries the day. You think that it’s
a business. And there was a part of me that said ‘‘Do we want to put
ourselves out for a system that I am not sure about?’’ What Barack and
I talked about when we decided to do this was that we were going to
do this authentically and that this was as much a test for us about the
country and the (political) process as it was the other way around … if
you offer somebody what is real and true, will people grasp that? I want
to believe they will, because that’s what they’ve got in front of them.40
Michelle said, ‘‘You know, Barack is very convincing and very passion-
ate,’’ adding that she was na€ıve in the beginning about the impact it
would have on their family life, ‘‘So I eventually said: ‘Sure, let’s do it.
Okay you win.’ And then, you’re in.’’41 Michelle defended her husband
against claims he shouldn’t be running in 2008:
Don’t be fooled by people who claim that it is not his time. We’ve heard
this spewed from the lips of rivals … every phase of our journey: He is
not experienced enough. He should wait his turn. He is too young. He
is not black enough. He is not white enough … you win with being
who you are and with being clear and comfortable with that. I’m finding
that people completely understand me. For the most part, I think the
women and the men and the families and the folks that we are meeting
on the campaign trail understand the realities of families of today.42
Michelle, however, likes to remind audiences her husband is just a

man—at once extraordinary and quite ordinary—a man who forgets to
pick up his socks. She wants to humanize her husband many see as the
‘‘Great Black Hope.’’ Michelle said,
I know that I can’t do it all. I cannot be involved in a presidential

campaign, hold down a full-time senior-level position, get my kids to
camp, and exercise and eat right. I know I can’t do it all. So forgive
me for being human, but I’m going to put it on the table. You’ve got
to make trade-offs in life. I’m okay with that. I’ve come to realize I
am sacrificing one set of things in my life for something else poten-
tially really positive.
On the campaign for the presidency, Michelle said,
I’m here not just because I’m the wife of a candidate. Because this is
hard. This is really a hard thing. This isn’t a natural choice to be
made in your life. It’s strange, all this. I’m here as a woman, as a
mother, as a citizen of this country. And I am so tired of the way
things are.43
After Barack Obama’s announcement that he would seek the presi-

dency, many speculated about his chances of winning the nomination,
to say nothing of his chances for winning the general election.
Many secretly and openly were concerned about his safety. On this,
Michelle said,
I tell myself all the time, we’re supposed to take the risk. In the end,
I think we have an obligation to give it a shot. To do our best. To
give people a choice … I took myself down every dark road you
could go on, just to prepare myself before we jumped out there. Are
we emotionally, financially ready for this? I dreamed out all the sce-
narios. The bottom line is, man, the little sacrifice we have to make
is nothing compared to the possibility of what we could do if this
catches on.44
For much of the year, Barack is away from home, and the time away
comes with some strife in the Obama household. Michelle said,
Sundays once were sacred in the Obama house, the day for school
activities and reading, movies and catching up on writing in the
family journal. But in the final months of the year, Obama’s political
schedule began filling up … the hope is that this is going to change
and we’re going to go back to our normal schedule of keeping Sun-
days pretty sacred.45
For many years, Barack attended the Trinity United Church of Christ
in Chicago, Illinois. It is the church where he and Michelle were married,
where his two daughters were baptized, and whose pastor blessed the
Obama home. The church’s former pastor, Jeremiah A. Wright, said of
Barack, ‘‘His wife and his daughters come before his political career and
that is crucial in a time when families are coming apart.’’46
Barack and his family have a tradition of taking a family vacation to
visit family and friends in Hawaii. While serving in the Illinois state sen-
ate, an important senate vote was scheduled while Barack and his family
were on their annual trip; he could not make it back to Springfield in
time for the vote, in part because of one of his daughters being too sick
to fly home. Barack missed the vote and the consequences were often
noted during his time in the state senate and also during his campaigns
for national office. Barack said of missing the vote and the resulting
consequences:
I take my legislative responsibilities extremely seriously. In the midst of a

congressional race, I’m well aware of the potential risk of missing a vote,
even if that vote doesn’t wind up making the difference on a particular
piece of legislation. But at some point, family has to come first.47
Michelle says of her husband that he’s not the ‘‘next messiah, who’s
going to fix it all. He is going to stumble … make mistakes and say
things you don’t agree with.’’ When asked what happens when her hus-
band wants her input on policy issues, her reply is, ‘‘Do you think I
would ever hold my tongue?’’48
When asked about the race and being in the White House, Michelle
said, ‘‘My God, who can sit here and say, ‘I’m ready to be president and
first lady?’ ’’ In regard to the rigors of the campaign trail, Michelle said,
‘‘I wake up every morning wondering how on the earth I am going to pull
off that next minor miracle of getting through the day.’’49
Spending the July 4th holiday on the campaign trail in Iowa, Barack
said, ‘‘This is the family weekend for us.’’ As the family loaded up into
Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama arrives for an election

night rally with his wife Michelle in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 3, 2008. (AP
Photo/Chris Carlson)
a recreational vehicle heading for another campaign stop, he added,

‘‘Family is first.’’50
Barack Obama reflected on his father and his own fatherhood:
I think that, both consciously and unconsciously, it’s been helpful for
me to understand the mistakes that my father made. I think a lot
about trying to spend enough time with my kids. I think a lot about
not being too heavy-handed with my children. I think about the
importance of showing respect to my wife as part of showing love and
regard for my kids … the approval that I desire now is the approval of
my kids. It’s an interesting turn in my life, where I’m much more con-
cerned about whether my 9-year-old and 6-year-old think I’m a good
dad, than that crowd of 5,000 people that are cheering me on.51
Barack’s daughter Malia, has said, ‘‘Are you going to try to be president?
Shouldn’t you be vice president first?’’52
NOTES
1. Christine Brozyna, ‘‘Get to Know Barack Obama,’’ ABC News, November 2, 2007.
2. Nicholas D. Kristof, ‘‘Obama: Man of the World,’’ New York Times, March 6,
2007, A.21.
3. David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power (New York: Amistad, 2007), 32.
4. Eugene Robinson, ‘‘The Moment for This Messenger?’’ Washington Post, March 13,
2007, A17.
5. Steve Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams: The Story of Barack Obama (New York: Black
Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2007), 44.
6. Kevin Merida, ‘‘The Ghost of a Father,’’ Washington Post, December 4, 2007, A12.
7. Brozyna, ‘‘Get to Know Barack Obama.’’
8. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004),
376–377.
9. Ibid., 220.
10. Jonathan Clayton and Nyangoma Korela, ‘‘Favourite Son is Already a Winner in
Kenya,’’ Times of London, February 10, 2007, http://www.timesoflondon.com
(accessed February 10, 2007).
11. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 50–51.
13. Obama, Dreams from My Father, 36–41.
14. Kirsten Scharnberg and Kim Barker, ‘‘The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s
Youth,’’ Chicago Tribune Online Edition, March 25, 2007, http://www.chicagotribune.
com (accessed March 25, 2007).
15. Ibid.
16. Hank De Zutter, ‘‘What Makes Obama Run?’’ Chicago Reader, December 8, 1995,
http://www.chicagoreader.com (accessed June 3, 2008).
17. Scharnberg and Barker, ‘‘Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth.’’

18. Ibid.
19. Janny Scott, ‘‘A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path,’’ New York Times,
March 14, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed March 14, 2008).
20. Ibid.
21. Jonathan Alter and Daren Briscoe, ‘‘The Audacity of Hope,’’ Newsweek, December
27, 2004, 74–87.
22. Amanda Ripley, David E. Thigpen, and Jeannie McCabe, ‘‘Obama’s Ascent,’’ Time,
November 15, 2004, 74–81.
23. Scharnberg and Barker, ‘‘Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth.’’
24. Amanda Ripley, ‘‘A Mother’s Story,’’ Time, April 21, 2008, 36, 39.
25. Ibid., 42.
26. Scott, ‘‘A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path.’’
27. Ibid.
28. Richard Wolffe, Jessica Ramirez, and Jeffrey Bartholet, ‘‘When Barry Became Bar-
ack,’’ Newsweek, March 22, 2008, http://www.newsweek.com (accessed March 24,
2008).
29. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006).
30. Scott, ‘‘A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path.’’
31. Jackie Calmes, ‘‘Politics & Economics: Democrats’ Litmus Electability,’’ Wall Street
Journal, January 11, 2007, A.6.
32. Beverly Wang, ‘‘Michelle Obama Says Husband Has Moral Compass,’’ Associated
Press, 7 May 2007.
33. Lynn Norment, ‘‘The Hottest Couple in America,’’ Ebony, February 1, 2007, 52.
34. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘The Real Running Mates,’’ Time, September 24, 2007, 35.
35. Norment, ‘‘The Hottest Couple in America.’’
36. Liza Mundy, ‘‘A Series of Fortunate Events,’’ Washington Post, August 12, 2007,
W10.
37. Norment, ‘‘The Hottest Couple in America.’’
38. Judy Keen, ‘‘Candid and Unscripted, Campaigning Her Way,’’ USA Today, May 11,
2007, 01a.
39. Mundy, ‘‘A Series of Fortunate Events.’’
40. Michele Norris, ‘‘Michelle Obama Sees Election as Test for America,’’ National
Public Radio, July 9, 2007, http://www.npr.org (accessed July 9, 2007).
42. Tumulty, ‘‘The Real Running Mates.’’
43. Gwen Ifill, ‘‘On the Road with Michelle Obama,’’ Essence, September 7, 2007,
204.
44. Ibid., 206.
45. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘The First Time Around: Senator Obama’s Freshman Year,’’ Chicago
Tribune, December 24, 2005, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/
chi-051224obama,0,6232648.story (accessed May 20, 2008).
46. Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams.
47. Peter Slevin, ‘‘Obama Forged Political Mettle in Illinois Capitol,’’ Washington Post,
February 9, 2007, A01.
48. Judy Keen, ‘‘Candid and Unscripted, Campaigning Her Way,’’ USA Today, May 11,
2007, 01a.
49. Jodi Kantor and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Michelle Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act,’’
New York Times, May 18, 2007, A1.
50. ‘‘Obama Says He Is Emissary for Change,’’ Associated Press, July 5, 2007, http://
www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed July 5, 2007).
52. Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams, 114.
CHAPTER 2
On Community Organizing
and Activism and Accepting
the Call to Serve
‘‘Organizing teaches as nothing else does the beauty and

strength of everyday people. Through the songs of the church
and the talk on the stoops, through the hundreds of individual
stories of coming up from the South and finding any job that
would pay, of raising families on threadbare budgets, of losing
some children to drugs and watching others earn degrees and
land jobs their parents could never aspire to—it is through
these stories and songs of dashed hopes and powers of endur-
ance, of ugliness and strife, subtlety and laughter, that organiz-
ers can shape a sense of community not only for others, but for
themselves.’’1
On Community Organizing and Activism and Accepting the Call to Serve 27
Introduction
In 1983, ready to graduate from Columbia University, Barack made the

decision to pursue a career in community activism, even though he
knew no one making a living as an activist, nor did he know what such
a job’s duties might be. Change, Barack knew, happened at the grass-
roots level, and he wanted to organize people to effect change. Living
in New York at the time, Barack wrote letters to every civil rights orga-
nization he could think of. He wrote to elected black officials, and to
neighborhood councils and tenants’ rights groups. Receiving no
response, he decided to accept a job to save money and pay off school
debt. After a time, the idea of community organizing still tugged at
him, and he quit his position, determined to find another in his chosen
field. Writing more letters and receiving no response, after six months,
he remained unemployed. He had nearly given up when he received a
call from a community organizer in Chicago. He needed a trainee, the
man said, someone that could join urban blacks and suburban whites
in the Chicago area in an attempt to save manufacturing jobs. The job
offer included a salary and a travel allowance that Barack used to buy a
car. Barack moved to Chicago, a place he had visited years before with
his mother and grandmother. For three years, he drove his battered
Honda Civic to church and neighborhood meetings in an effort to
effect changes. There were successes and failures; however, Barack kept
at it with a positive outlook, determination, and a drive to succeed. He
was twenty-four years old and doing what he felt he needed to do.
Barack has often said that his time on the south side of Chicago as a
community organizer was the best education possible. Community
organizing and activism had a profound impact on how Barack
approached politics, his views on issues, and his connection to people.
On Community Organizing and Activism
On his decision to become a community activist, Barack said,
The idea of being part of a community, and helping build that

community, was very appealing to me, and very attractive to me. I
think that being part of an African-American community was also
important to me, because I think I felt there was a strong gravita-

tional pull, given I had graduated from an Ivy League school to go
into a rarefied world in which I wouldn’t really be rooted in a partic-
ular community. And that was something I wanted to avoid.2
Just out of college and unable to find a position as a community activ-

ist, Barack accepted a position as a research assistant at a consulting
house to multinational corporations in New York. Of the time there,
he wrote,
Sometimes, coming out of an interview with Japanese financiers or

German bond traders, I would catch my reflection in the elevator
doors—see myself in a suit and tie, a briefcase in my hand—and for
a split second I would imagine myself as a captain of industry, bark-
ing out orders, closing the deal, before I remembered who it was that
I had told myself I wanted to be and felt pangs of guilt for my lack
of resolve.3
Barack’s supervisor at the consulting firm, Cathy Lazere, has said, ‘‘He
was very mature and more worldly than other people—on the surface
kind of laid back, but kind of in control. He had a good sense of him-
self, which I think a lot of kids at that age don’t.’’4
Determined to become a community organizer, Barack sent letters to
everyone he knew and to every organization he knew of that were doing
what he wanted to do. His only response came from Gerald Kellman
of the Developing Communities Project (DCP) in Chicago. After
meeting with Kellman, Barack was offered a position and moved to
Chicago.
Gerald Kellman said of Barack’s training as a community organizer
in Chicago, ‘‘We did training in listening skills … you’re listening for
story, because story communicates more about a person than simply
facts.… Barack did that very well. One of the remarkable things is how
well he listens to people who are opposed to him.’’5
In community activism, Barack was looking for an authentic African
American experience. Gerald Kellman and his DCP were searching for
an authentic African American to work in the black neighborhoods that
had been devastated by the closing of the factories and mills on the
south side of Chicago. Barack’s job sent him to the poor black neigh-
borhoods where he knew he wanted to make a connection. It was also a
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama waves to the media

as he leaves the Democratic National Committee headquarters in June 2008.
(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
job where he worked with area churches to effect community changes.

From the church leaders, Barack soon learned that the difficulty he was
having in enabling and effecting the grassroots changes and earning the
trust and commitment from the churches was because he wasn’t showing
up in the church pews on Sunday. When meeting with pastors in area
churches, he was asked about his own spiritual life. One of the pastors said,
It might help your mission if you had a church home. It doesn’t mat-
ter where, really. What you’re asking from pastors requires us to set
aside some of our more priestly concerns in favor of prophesy. That
requires a good deal of faith on our part. It makes us want to know
just where you’re getting yours from.
After lectures like this, Barack visited the Trinity United Church of
Christ. The church’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, became Bar-
ack’s pastor, a mentor, and much later on in Barack’s life while in the
midst of the presidential campaign, his former pastor. The church
helped Barack develop as a community organizer and also to develop
politically.6
When Barack submitted his first report of interviews, his supervisor,
Gerald Kellman said, ‘‘You’re starting to listen.… But, it’s still too
abstract … if you want to organize people … go towards people’s cen-
ters … what makes them tick … form the relationships you need to get
them involved.’’7
Kellman said his sense was that Barack’s dream after Harvard Law
School was to come back to Chicago and possibly become mayor of
Chicago. Barack said this never occurred to him at the time, saying,
I was, like many people, impressed by the degree to which he

[Harold Washington, mayor of Chicago, who died of a heart attack
while in office], could mobilize the community and push for
change.… I was somewhat disdainful of politics. I was much more
interested in mobilizing people to hold politicians accountable.8
In October 2004, Barack was asked how he assessed the impact of hav-
ing been a community organizer on choosing politics as a career. He
answered,
I became a community organizer as a direct result of my work and

study in college. I was greatly inspired by the civil rights movement …
my coming back to Chicago, I think, opened up my potential—I
consider [the experience] an extension of my college education
because a lot of the things that I had read about in books I had to
try to implement. It wasn’t always as easy as I thought, but it also
confirmed my belief in the need to give everyday folks a handle on
their own destiny. And all my work since that time has been shaped
by the values that were forged during those years as a community
organizer.9
In a speech to the National Action Network (NAN), a civil rights

group founded by Al Sharpton, Barack touted his experience as a
community organizer and state senator from Illinois as examples of his
experience and leadership ability. He said, ‘‘I haven’t just talked about
these things, I’ve actually done them.’’10
Of his time as a community organizer in Chicago, Michael Evans of
the DCP remembers Barack saying ‘‘You can only go so far in organiz-
ing. You help people get some solutions, but it’s never as big as wiping
away problems. It wasn’t end-all. He wanted to be part of the end-all,
to get things done.’’11
In Chicago, Barack spoke to a number of black ministers to persuade
them to ally themselves with the DCP. He discovered that most of these
ministers had something in common.
One minister talked about a former gambling addiction. Another

told me about his years as a successful executive and a secret drunk.
They all mentioned periods of religious doubt … the striking bottom
and shattering of pride; and then finally the resurrection of self, a self
alloyed to something larger. That was the source of their confidence,
they insisted: their personal fall, their subsequent redemption. It was
what gave them the authority to preach the Good News.12
Another member of the DCP in Chicago, Loretta Augustine-Herron,

said of Barack that he was ‘‘Someone who always followed the high
road,’’ and remembered him saying,
[Y]ou’ve got to do it right … be open with the issues … include the

community instead of going behind the community’s back, and that
he would include people we didn’t like sometimes … you’ve got to
bring people together. If you exclude people, you’re only weakening
yourself. If you meet behind doors and make decisions for them,
they’ll never take ownership of the issue.13
Reverend Alvin Love, who was recruited to participate in the DCP, looks
at Barack’s candidacy and says, ‘‘Everything I see reflects that community
organizing experience … consensus-building … connection to people …
listening … common ground. I think at his heart Barack is a community
organizer … what he’s doing now is that. It’s just a larger community to
be organized.’’14 Pastor Love spoke of the young Barack:
Barack kind of broke down those barriers for us, because it was easy
for us to get into our own agenda. And it was all the neighborhoods
on the South Side, and all the pastors were saying the same thing, so
finding out that we had more in common than we thought was an
eye-opening experience.’’ Love said Barack was a stubborn, ‘‘stiff-
necked grinder with a gift for changing tactics on the fly.
Recalling a first meeting at Altgeld Gardens, a housing project on the

South Side of Chicago, that didn’t go well, Love said,
[A]n arrogant city bureaucrat got everybody’s back up … half the

people wanted to walk out, and the other half wanted to deck the
guy.… Barack wouldn’t quit. He pulled us off to the side and he said,
‘‘Well, we messed that up. We didn’t see that coming. We need to
strategize right now about how to deal with stuff like this and hold
people accountable so this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.’’15
At a DCP convention in 2004, Barack told the members,
I can’t say we didn’t make mistakes, that I knew what I was doing.
Sometimes I called a meeting, and nobody showed up. Sometimes
preachers said, ‘‘Why should I listen to you?’’ Sometimes we tried to
hold politicians accountable, and they didn’t show up. I couldn’t tell
whether I got more out of it than this neighborhood. I grew up to
be a man, right here, in this area. It’s a consequence of working with
this organization and this community that I found my calling. There
was something more than making money and getting a fancy degree.
The measure of my life would be public service.16
Barack’s work on the south side of Chicago won him many friend-
ships and the respect of fellow activists. One friendship was with John-
nie Owens, who left the citywide advocacy group Friends of the Parks
to join Barack at the DCP. When Barack left Chicago to attend Har-
vard Law School, Owens replaced Barack as the executive director of
DCP. He said of Barack:
What I liked about Barack immediately is that he brought a certain

level of sophistication and intelligence to community work. He had a
reasonable, focused approach that I hadn’t seen much of. A lot of
organizers you meet these days are these self-anointed leaders with
this strange, way-out approach and unrealistic, eccentric way of
pursuing things from the very beginning. Not Barack. He’s not about
calling attention to himself. He’s concerned with the work. It’s as if
it’s his mission in life, his calling, to work for social justice. Anyone
who knows me knows that I’m one of the most cynical people you
want to see, always looking for somebody’s angle or personal interest.
I’ve lived in Chicago all my life. I’ve known some of the most ruth-
less and biggest bullshitters out there, but I see nothing but integrity
in this guy.17
Senator Hillary Clinton has criticized Barack on his lack of experi-

ence and his qualifications to be president. In response, Barack said the
following in July 2007:
What I know is the kind of experience I have outside of Washington

as a community organizer working with families that are struggling,
as a constitutional law professor, as a state legislator dealing with the
very issues that affect people, people find that experience at least as
relevant, maybe more relevant, than experience in Washington.18
On Barack’s experience, Michelle Obama said, ‘‘We’ve defined ‘expe-

rience’ very narrowly,’’ citing her husband’s years of community organ-
izing in Chicago, his experience in the Illinois state senate and U.S.
Senate, and his expertise as a civil-rights attorney and constitutional law
scholar.
He probably knows the Constitution better than this administration.

This is probably the only country on earth that would look at some-
body like Barack Obama and his more than 25 years of public serv-
ice, and say that he’s not experienced. That’s the irony of it. That’s
the game of politics.19
Barack posted this message on his website regarding forming a presi-

dential exploratory committee: ‘‘Years ago, as a community organizer in
Chicago, I learned that meaningful change always begins at the grass-
roots, and that engaged citizens working together can accomplish extra-
ordinary things.’’20
On a phone conference call in June 2007, Barack told organizers
preparing to go door-to-door for his campaign, ‘‘I was a community
organizer on the south side of Chicago, doing a lot of the work that a
lot of you guys are going to do on Saturday. You may get some doors
slammed in your face or people arguing with you.’’ The important
thing, he added, ‘‘is to listen.’’21
In a speech following the Iowa Caucuses on January 3, 2008, Barack
told the huge crowd that they didn’t do it for him. Instead, they did it
because they believed deeply in the most American of ideas.
I know this. I know this because while I may be standing here

tonight, I’ll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chi-
cago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all
the campaigns here in Iowa, organizing and working and fighting to
make people’s lives just a little bit better.22
Though I’m clearly a political leader now, I didn’t start as one. I was
skeptical of electoral politics. I thought it was corrupting, and that
real change would happen in the grass roots.… I thought the way to
have an impact was through changing people’s hearts and minds, not
through some government program.23
In 1995, Barack was running to be the Democratic candidate for the

Illinois state senate from the south side of Chicago. The Chicago Reader
wrote about him as a lawyer, teacher, philanthropist, and author, noting
that although he didn’t need yet another career, he found one in politics
to get to his true passion—community organization. Barack said the
following in the article:
What if a politician were to see his job as that of an organizer, as part

teacher and part advocate, one who does not sell voters short but
who educates them about the real choices before them? As an elected
public official, for instance, I could bring church and community
leaders together easier than I could as a community organizer or law-
yer. We would come together to form concrete economic develop-
ment strategies, take advantage of existing laws and structures, and
create bridges and bonds within all sectors of the community. We
must form grass-root structures that would hold me and other elected
officials more accountable for their actions.24
Vernon Jordan, Barack’s friend and President Clinton’s advisor, has said,
‘‘I am just very impressed with him as a man, as a lawyer, as an individual,
and as someone who chose not to go to a law firm but to be a commu-

nity organizer and to do something about community problems.’’25
On Accepting the Call to Serve
The first time many people heard of Barack Obama was at the Demo-
cratic National Convention in 2004. He stood at the podium, in front
of thousands of Democrats, and spoke. The speech that night, one he’d
written himself and delivered without using a teleprompter, electrified
the Democrats before him, and amazed and inspired those who watched
on television. It also amazed the millions who heard about it for days on
end. Although the whole of the speech was stirring, the words that follow
perhaps speak to what Barack believes about his service to the country
and accepting the call to serve at this point in his life: ‘‘I stand here
knowing that my story is part of the larger American story, that I owe a
debt to all of those who came before me, and that in no other country
on earth is my story even possible.’’ With a fervor that could be felt by
all who were there and all who were watching, Barack went on:
Tonight we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation, not because

of the height of our skyscrapers or the power of our military or the
size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise,
summed up in a declaration made over 200 years ago: ‘‘We hold
these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’’26
Speaking to a group of college students in Washington, D.C. in July

2006, Barack said,
You’ll have boundless opportunities when you graduate and it’s very
easy to just take that diploma, forget about all this progressive-poli-
tics stuff, and go chasing after the big house and the large salary and
the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says
you should buy. But I hope you don’t get off that easy. There’s noth-
ing wrong with making money, but focusing your life solely on mak-
ing a buck shows a poverty of ambition.
On an American culture that ‘‘discourages empathy,’’ and belief that

‘‘innocent people being slaughtered and expelled from their homes
halfway around the world are somebody else’s problem,’’ Barack urged
the group of college students to ignore those voices:
[Not] because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate
than you, although I think you do have that obligation, but primarily
because you have that obligation to yourself. Because our individual
salvation depends on collective salvation. It’s only when you hitch
yourself up to something bigger than yourself that you realize your
true potential.27
On how his experience as a law professor shaped him as a political

leader, Barack responded:
One of the things that an effective professor learns is how to present

both sides of an argument … and I think that being able to see all
sides of an issue, having been trained in presenting all sides of an issue
in the classroom, actually helps me question my own assumptions and
helps me empathize with people who don’t agree with me.28
Barack announced he was forming a presidential exploratory com-

mittee and posted this message on his website:
I certainly didn’t expect to find myself in this position a year ago. I’ve
been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics.
So I’ve spent some time thinking about how I could best advance the
cause of change and progress that we so desperately need.29
Announcing his candidacy in February 2007 in Springfield, Illinois,

Barack said, ‘‘Each and very time, a new generation has risen up and
done what’s needed to be done. Today we are called once more, and it
is time for our generation to answer that call.’’ To the crowd in Spring-
field Barack added, ‘‘That is why this campaign can’t only be about me.
It must be about us. It must be about what we can do together.’’30
On community and shared sacrifice, Barack said, ‘‘We have responsi-
bilities to ourselves, but we also have mutual responsibilities, so if a child
can’t read so well, that matters to us even if they are not our child.’’
When asked by a woman if her son’s death in Iraq was the result of a
mistake by the government, Barack answered, ‘‘I told her the service of
our young men and women—the duty they show this country—that’s
never a mistake.’’ Afterwards, he reflected on the encounter: ‘‘It reminds

you why you get into politics. It reminds you that this isn’t a game.’’31
When speaking to a group of African American political organizers
in New York, Barack said he did not want black votes simply because
he was black: ‘‘That’s not what America is about. I want it to be
because of what I’ve done, and how I’ve lived, and the principles I
stand for, and the ideas I promote.’’32
Valerie Jarrett, a family friend for many years, said the following of
Barack:
He’s always wanted to be president. He didn’t always admit it, but

oh, absolutely. The first time he said to me, he said, ‘‘I just think I
have some special qualities and wouldn’t it be a shame to waste
them.’’ I think it was during the early part of his U.S. senatorial cam-
paign. He said, ‘‘You know, I just think I have something.’’
In Iowa, prior to the Iowa Caucus in January 2008, Barack said,
Some people who knew of my activism in the community asked me

would I be interested in running for that office. And so I did what
every wise man does when confronted with such a decision: I prayed
on it, and I asked my wife.33
When asked whether he believed that God took sides in a war, Bar-
ack quoted Abraham Lincoln, and then added that it was important to
remain ‘‘our brother’s keeper, our sister’s keeper’’ to advance the causes
of justice and freedom.34
Barack noted:
One sort of measure of my own wisdom is the degree to which I can

clear my mind of ego and focus on what’s useful, and I’m not always
successful at that. I’m subject like everyone else to vanity and what
Dr. [Martin Luther] King called ‘‘the drum major instinct’’ of want-
ing to lead the parade.’’35
In Reno, Nevada, to a crowd described as large, passionate, and

politically diverse, Barack said the current philosophy in Washington is
that ‘‘if you are a child that didn’t have the wisdom to choose the right
parents you’re on your own,’’ and then called for a new, less selfish, less
timid politics that ‘‘reflects the core decency of the American people.’’36
State of Illinois Senator Kirk Dillard, a Republican who befriended

Barack during his term as a state senator, said,
Obama has a great intellect and the leadership characteristics of our

great American presidents. But the unknown is the administrative
and foreign policy experience.… I would not lose a night’s sleep wor-
rying about my young children’s future if Senator Obama were my
president because I know he would probably surround himself, like
Ronald Reagan, with exceptionally experienced people.37
Writing in the journal Foreign Affairs, Barack said,
Today, we are again called to provide visionary leadership. This cen-

tury’s threats are at least as dangerous as and in some ways more
complex than those we have confronted in the past.
It is a call to action. These threats demand a new vision of leadership

in the twenty-first century—a vision that draws from the past but is
not bound by outdated thinking … the world has lost trust in our
purposes and our principles.
America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, and the world
cannot meet them without America. We can neither retreat from the
world nor try to bully it into submission. We must lead the world,
by deed and by example.
The American moment is not over, but it must be seized anew. To

see American power in terminal decline is to ignore America’s great
promise and historic purpose in the world.
This is our moment to renew the trust and faith of our people—and
all people—in an America that battles immediate evils, promotes an
ultimate good, and leads the world once more.38
When speaking about misperceptions, Michelle Obama said the fol-

lowing of Barack:
Barack poses this interesting dilemma because we are still a country

that puts people in boxes. Barack kind of shakes up those notions
because his life has crossed so many different paths. He grew up in

Hawaii but he was indeed a community organizer. He became very
entrenched and rooted in the black community on the South Side
[of Chicago]. He is very much a black man, but he’s very much the
son of his mother, who was very much a white woman, and he grew
up with white grandparents.39
On Barack’s swift rise in the polls and his sudden intense popularity,
‘‘It’s like he cut in line. He’s become a household name far faster than
anyone who doesn’t have a hit movie,’’ said Tony Bullock, vice president
of Ogilvy Public Relationships Worldwide and former Hill staffer.40
Donna Brazile, a Democratic political consultant, said, ‘‘He became
an important person overnight. What’s unusual is that most political
celebrities—Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John McCain—earn that status
only after prolonged ordeals. What’s unique about Obama is that he’s
done it because he’s cool. Because he’s new.’’41
In September 2007, Barack said, ‘‘One of the dangers of movements
is that they always want to be completely pure and have everything
their way. But politics is about governing and making compromises.
And so sometimes folks who come into politics with a movement
mentality can be disappointed.’’42
An old friend of Barack’s said in September 2007, ‘‘You don’t get to
where Obama is by being Mr. Goodie every day. You do have to
compromise your values.’’43
In a speech at DePaul University on October 2, 2007, Barack said,
I want to be straight with you. If you want conventional Washington

thinking, I’m not your man. If you want rigid ideology, I’m not your
man. If you think that fundamental change can wait, I’m definitely not
your man. But if you want to bring this country together, if you want
experience that’s broader than just learning the ways of Washington, if
you think that the global challenges we face are too urgent to wait, and if
you think that America must offer the world a new and hopeful face, then
I offer a different choice in this race and a different vision for our future.44
At the same speech, Barack said,
In the 21st century, we cannot stand up before the world and say
that there’s one set of rules for America and another for everyone
else. To lead the world, we must lead by example. We must be will-

ing to acknowledge our failings, not just trumpet our victories.45
David Bartholomew, a law student at Boston College Law School

said in November 2007 that Barack is ‘‘a citizen of the world. Obama
and my generation—we see the future of the world as countries evolv-
ing together. Because of his background he can speak to a wider range
of people than any other candidate. He can speak globally.’’46
In a speech at the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Iowa in November
2007, Barack said,
I don’t want to spend the next year or the next 4 years refighting the
same fights that we had in the 1990s. In this election—at this
moment—let us reach for what we know is possible. A nation healed.
A world repaired. An America that believes again.47
In an interview with Time, in regard to National Service, and asking

all of the nation’s youth to serve their country in some capacity, whether
it is the Peace Corp, the military, or in some other way, Barack said,
‘‘I can make government and public service cool again.’’48
On judgment and experience, Barack said in December 2007, ‘‘People
want judgment, and they hope that experience is often a good proxy.…
Experience can actually be an impediment to good judgment.’’49
On a long and brutal campaign season, Barack believes the exercise
is a good one for picking the next president of the United States:
Ultimately, the process reveals aspects of an individual’s character and

judgment. If you think about past Presidents, probably those two things
along with vision are the most important aspects of a presidency. Do you
know where you want to take the country? Do you have the judgment to
figure out what’s important and what’s not? Do you have the character to
withstand trials and tribulations and to bounce back from setbacks?’’50
After the New Hampshire Primary, where it was expected, according

to the polls, that Barack would win the contest, and where Hillary
Clinton won after she and her campaign were nearly written off, Barack
strode onstage at Nashua (New Hampshire) South High School, and
conceded defeat. ‘‘I am still fired up and ready to go.… We’ve been
told we’re not ready, that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, and
generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums

up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.’’51
After the February 12th Chesapeake primaries, Barack spoke to the
gathered crowd of supporters and said,
The voices of the American people have carried us a great distance on

this improbable journey, but we have much further to go. Now we
carry our message … it’s the same message we had when we were up,
and when were down; that out of many, we are one; that our destiny
will not be written for us, but by us; and that we can cast off our
doubts and fears and cynicism because our dream will not be deferred;
our future will not be denied; and our time for change has come.52
In a speech on race on March 19, 2008, Barack said,
We have a choice in this country: we can accept a politics that breeds

division, and conflict, and cynicism. Or, at this moment, in this elec-
tion, we can come together and say: ‘‘not this time’’… and today,
whenever I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibil-
ity, what gives me the most hope is the next generation: the young
people whose attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have
already made history in this election.53
According to David Axelrod, the Obama campaign’s chief strategist,

the bottom-up ethos of the campaign comes straight from the top:
When we started this race, Barack told us that he wanted the cam-
paign to be a vehicle for involving people and giving them a stake in
the kind of organizing he believes in. He is still the same guy who
came to Chicago as a community organizer twenty-three years ago.
The idea that we can organize together and improve our country—I
mean, he really believes that.54
On May 25, 2008, Barack delivered the commencement address at

Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Encouraging
community service and service to country, he said,
You are about to enter a world that makes it easy to get caught up in
the notion that there are actually two different stories at work in our
lives. The first is the story of our everyday cares and concerns—the
responsibilities we have to our jobs and our families … and the second
is the story of what happens in the life of our country—of what hap-
pens in the wider world. It’s the story you see when you catch a glimpse
of the day’s headlines or turn on the news at night—a story of big chal-
lenges like war and recession; hunger and climate change; injustice and
inequality. It’s a story that can sometimes seem distant and separate
from our own—a destiny to be shaped by forces beyond our control.…
I say this to you as someone who couldn’t be standing here today if
not for the service of others, and wouldn’t be standing here today if not
for the purpose that service gave my own life … each of us can do our
part … our collective service can shape the destiny of this generation …
that is all I ask of you on this joyous day of new beginnings … that is
how we will keep so much needed work going, and the cause of justice
everlasting, and the dream alive for generations to come.55
Barack said the following at Indiana’s Jefferson–Jackson Dinner on

May 4, 2008:
When I began this campaign for the presidency, I said I was running
because I believed that the size of our challenges had outgrown the
smallness of our politics in Washington—the pettiness and the game-
playing and the influence-peddling that always prevents us from solv-
ing the problems we face year after year after year.… I also saw that
we are not powerless in the face of these challenges. We don’t have to
sit here and watch our leaders do nothing.… And that’s why I’m
running because we can’t afford to settle for a Washington where
John McCain gets the chance to give us four more years of the
same.… We can’t afford to settle for a Washington where politicians
only focus on how to win instead of why we should; where they
check the polls before they check their gut; where they only tell us
whatever we want to hear whenever we want to hear it. That kind of
politics may get them where they need to go, but it doesn’t get
America where we need to go. And it won’t change anything.… It’s
about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether this country, at
this moment, will continue to stand by while the wealthy few prosper
at the expense of the hardworking many, or whether we’ll stand up
and reclaim the American dream for every American.56
On the evening of the North Carolina Primary, May 6, 2008, Barack

said the following:
[B]ecause you still believe that this is our moment, and our time, for
change … that we are at our best when we lead with principle; when
we lead with conviction; when we summon an entire nation around
a common purpose—a higher purpose … we also believe we have a
larger responsibility to one another as Americans—that America is a
place—that America is the place—where you can make it if you try.
That no matter how much money you start with or where you come
from or who your parents are, opportunity is yours if you’re willing
to reach for it and work for it … not what kind of campaign they’ll
run, it’s what kind of campaign we will run. It’s what we will do to
make this year different. I didn’t get into [this] race thinking that I
could avoid this kind of politics, but I am running for president
because this is the time to end it.… We will end it by telling the truth—
forcefully, repeatedly, confidently—and by trusting that the American
people will embrace the need for change … that’s how we’ve always
changed this country—not from the top-down, but from the bottom-
up; when you—the American people—decide that the stakes are too
high and the challenges are too great.… That’s why I’m in this race. I
love this country too much to see it divided and distracted at this
moment in history. I believe in our ability to perfect this union because
it’s the only reason I’m standing here today. And I know the promise of
America because I have lived it … this election is not about me, or any
candidate. Don’t ever forget that this campaign is about you—about
your hopes, about your dreams, about your struggles, about securing
your portion of the American Dream.57
NOTES
1. Barack Obama, ‘‘After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois,’’ Illinois Issues,
University of Illinois at Springfield, 1990.
2. Christine Brozyna, ‘‘Get to Know Barack Obama,’’ ABC News, November 1, 2007,
http://abcnews.go.com (accessed November 21, 2007).
3. Janny Scott, ‘‘Memories of Obama in New York Differ,’’ New York Times, October
29, 2007, http://www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed October 30, 2007).
4. Scott, ‘‘Memories of Obama in New York Differ.’’
W10.
6. Ryan Lizza, ‘‘The Agitator,’’ New Republic, March 19, 2007, http://www.tnr.com
(accessed June 5, 2008).
7. Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004), 158.
9. Ronald Roach, ‘‘Obama Rising,’’ Black Issues in Higher Education, October 7, 2004,
20–23.
10. Randolph Burnside and Kami Whitehurst, ‘‘From the Statehouse to the White
House? Barack Obama’s Bid to Become the Next President,’’ Journal of Black Stud-
ies, July 31, 2007, 75.
11. David Moberg, ‘‘Obama’s Community Roots,’’ The Nation, April 7, 2007, 18.
12. Larissa MacFarquhar, ‘‘The Conciliator,’’ The New Yorker, May 7, 2007, http://
www.newyorker.com (accessed December 18, 2007).
13. Moberg, ‘‘Obama’s Community Roots,’’ 16.
14. Ibid., 18.
15. Charles P. Pierce, ‘‘The Cynic and Senator Obama,’’ Esquire, June 2008, 114.
16. Moberg, ‘‘Obama’s Community Roots,’’ 16.
18. Obama Says He is Emissary for Change,’’ Associated Press, July 5, 2007, http://
19. Michele Norris, ‘‘Michelle Obama Sees Election as Test for America,’’ National Pub-
lic Radio, July 9, 2007, http://www.npr.org (accessed July 9, 2007).
20. Barack Obama Web site, http://www.barackobama.com (accessed January 16,
2007).
21. Stephen Keating, ‘‘Obama Moms Cradle Campaign,’’ Denver Post, June 10, 2007, C03.
22. Barack Obama, ‘‘Caucus Speech,’’ New York Times, January 3, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com (accessed January 7, 2008).
23. Marc Royse, ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama,’’ O, the Oprah Magazine, November
2004, 248.
24. De Zutter, ‘‘What Makes Obama Run?’’
26. Royse, ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama.’’
27. Ken Silverstein, ‘‘Barack Obama Inc.,’’ Harper’s Magazine, November 2006, 31–40.
28. Roach, ‘‘Obama Rising.’’
29. ‘‘Barack Obama Jumps into 2008 Race,’’ CBS News Online, January 16, 2007,
http://www.cbsnews.com (accessed January 16, 2007).
30. Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Formerly Enters Presidential Race with
Calls for Generational Change,’’ New York Times, February 11, 2007, 22.
31. Adam Nagourney, ‘‘2 Years After Big Speech, a Lower Key for Obama,’’ New York
Times, April 8, 2007, 15.
32. Patrick Healy, ‘‘Courting Black Votes, Obama Emphasizes Principles,’’ New York
Times, April 22, 2007, 1.25.
33. MacFarquhar, ‘‘The Conciliator.’’
34. Patrick Healy and Michael Luo, ‘‘Edwards, Clinton and Obama Describe Journeys
of Faith,’’ New York Times, June 5, 2007, A20.
Tribune, December 29, 2005, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-
051224obama,0,6232648.story (accessed May 20, 2008).
36. ‘‘The Campaign’s Brightest Star,’’ The Economist, June 16, 2007, 33.
37. Ron Fournier, ‘‘The Unknown: Is Obama Ready?’’ Associated Press, June 17, 2007.
38. Barack Obama, ‘‘Renewing American Leadership,’’ Foreign Affairs, July/August
2007, http://www.foreignaffairs.org (accessed June 5, 2007).
39. Richard Wolffe and Daren Briscoe, ‘‘Across the Divide,’’ Newsweek, July 16, 2007,
27.
41. Ibid.
42. Ryan Lizza, ‘‘Above the Fray,’’ GQ, September 2007, 408.
43. Ibid., 336.
44. Barack Obama, ‘‘A New Beginning,’’ October 2, 2007, http://www.barackobama.
com (accessed October 3, 2007).
45. Ibid.
46. Jonathan Kaufman, ‘‘Whites’ Great Hope?’’ Wall Street Journal, November 10,
2007, A1.
47. Mike Littwin, ‘‘Still Waiting for Obama to Deliver Something New,’’ Rocky
Mountain News, November 17, 2007, 30.
48. Richard Stengel, ‘‘Interview with Barack Obama,’’ Time, December 10, 2007, 40.
49. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘Obama Finds His Moment,’’ Time, December 10, 2007, 45.
50. Ibid.
51. Sarah Liebowitz, ‘‘Democrats Pick Clinton,’’ Concord Monitor, January 9, 2008,
http://www.concordmonitor.com (accessed January 9, 2008).
52. Barack Obama, ‘‘February 12 Speech,’’ New York Times, February 12, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com (accessed February 14, 2008).
53. Tom Baldwin, ‘‘Barack Obama Attacks US State of ‘Racial Stalemate,’ ’’ Times
Online, March 19, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk (accessed March 19, 2008).
54. Tim Dickinson, ‘‘The Machinery of Hope,’’ Rolling Stone, March 20, 2008, 38.
55. Barack Obama, ‘‘Transcript of Obama’s Wesleyan Commencement Address,’’ May
25, 2008, http://www.barackobama.com/2008/05/25/remarks_of_senator_barack_
obam_70.php (accessed August 11, 2008).
56. Barack Obama, ‘‘Remarks to Indiana’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner,’’ May 4, 2008,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index (accessed August 11, 2008).
57. Barack Obama, ‘‘Remarks in Raleigh, North Carolina,’’ May 6, 2008, http://www.
barackobama.com/2008/05/06/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_62.php (accessed
August 11, 2008).
CHAPTER 3
On Illinois State Politics
‘‘There are times when I want to do everything and be every-

thing. I want to have time to read and swim with the kids and
not disappoint my voters and do a really careful job on each
and every thing that I do. And that can sometimes get me into
trouble. That’s historically been one of my bigger faults. I mean
I was trying to organize Project Vote at the same time as I was
writing a book, and there are only so many hours in a day.’’1
Introduction
In 1996, Barack was elected to the Illinois state senate as a Democrat

representing the Illinois 13th legislative district. During his state cam-
paign, his platform included helping working families on Chicago’s
south side, an area described by The Almanac of American Politics as
‘‘the nation’s largest urban black community for nearly a century.’’2
After three years of community activism and practicing law, Barack
decided to enter state politics. At the time, he said he was running
because he wanted to help create jobs and a decent future for the
embittered youth of the community he served. When he met with some
veteran politicians to tell them of his plans, the only jobs he said they
wanted to talk about were theirs and his. He also got lots of advice,
some of it perplexed him, and some of it annoyed him. One suggested
that he change his name, another told him to put a picture of his light-
bronze, boyish face on all his campaign materials ‘‘so people don’t see
your name and think you’re some big dark guy.’’ Another adviser sug-
gested that he never pose for photos with a glass in his hand—even if
he wasn’t drinking alcohol. Barack said,
Now all of this may be good political advice, but it’s all so superficial.
I am surprised at how many elected officials—even the good ones—
spend so much time talking about the mechanics of politics and not
matters of substance. They have this poker chip mentality, this over-
riding interest in retaining their seats or in moving their careers for-
ward, and the business and game of politics, the political horse race,
is all they talk about. Even those who are on the same page as me on
the issues never seem to want to talk about them. Politics is regarded
as little more than a career.’’3
Barack’s arrival in Springfield in January 1997 was not met with a red
carpet or open arms. Instead, many of his fellow senators cast a rather cold
eye on the new senator from the south side of Chicago. Some thought he
was an aloof Ivy Leaguer who spent time talking about his community
organizing and his Harvard law degree. Some described Barack as an elitist
and noted that many of his speeches were highly intellectual and policy-
focused. When asked why he ran for the state senate, Barack answered,
‘‘Part of it was that the seat opened up. I was living in the district, and the
state legislature was a part-time position. It allowed me to get my feet wet

in politics and test out whether I could get something done.’’4
When Barack, a Democrat, was elected to the state senate, the state
capital was in Republican control. He was known as a committed lib-
eral and a progressive Democrat. Barack wrote that he understood state
politics ‘‘as a full-contact sport, and minded neither the sharp elbows
nor the occasional blind-side hit.’’5
Senator Emil Jones, Jr., who gave Barack the job of representing sen-
ate Democrats, said, ‘‘He was very aggressive when he first came to the
senate. We were in the minority, but he said, ‘I’d like to work hard.
Any tough assignments or things you’d like me to be involved in, don’t
hesitate to give it to me.’ ’’6
Senator Kimberly Lightford entered the state senate shortly after Bar-
ack. She recalls walking into Barack’s law office and asking for advice
after winning her Democratic primary. ‘‘I’m, like, very na€ıve and think
I can fix the world—come here and change things overnight.’’ Barack,
she said, curbed her enthusiasm. Urging caution, he told her ‘‘Once
you get there you might realize it’s a bigger picture and you might want
to look at one topic and do what you can.’’ On her way out the door,
Barack surprised her by giving her a check for her campaign. She
thought, ‘‘This guy is cool. He’s gorgeous. And he’s giving me money!
He’s my new big brother.’’7
Barack’s cautious, close-to-the-vest style in politics is also reflected in
the way he plays poker, according to those who joined him in a regular
game with lawmakers and lobbyists. Barack was ‘‘fiercely competitive,
refusing to admit when he finished a night with less money than he
started.’’ Illinois State Senator Terry Link said of Barack’s card playing,
‘‘He wouldn’t throw money in the pot just to play out a hand. He had
to know he had a darn good chance of winning.’’8
Barack persuaded Republicans to go along with initiatives, winning
bipartisan support on potentially polarizing legislation: ‘‘The most
important thing that you do in Springfield is you bring all sides of an
issue to the table and you make them feel they are being listened to.’’9
Taking a reasonable tone and genuine attentiveness to Republican con-
cerns in the Illinois legislature made Barack a key swing legislator for
both parties, even if his voting record was decidedly liberal. ‘‘Members of
both parties listened closely to him,’’ said Kirk Dillard, Republican sena-
tor from suburban Chicago who co-sponsored legislation with Barack.10
Paul L. Williams, a lobbyist in Springfield, Illinois and a former state

representative, said of Barack’s arrival in Springfield, ‘‘He came with a
huge dose of practicality,’’ and characterized Barack’s attitude as ‘‘O.K.,
that makes sense and sounds great, as I’d like to go to the moon, but
right now I’ve only got enough gas to go this far.’’11
Of his time in Illinois state politics, Barack said, ‘‘I learned that if
you’re willing to listen to people, it’s possible to bridge a lot of the dif-
ferences that dominate the national political debate. I pretty quickly got
to form relationships with Republicans, with individuals from rural
parts of the state, and we had a lot in common.’’12
State Senator Kirk W. Dillard, a Republican, stated:
When you come in, especially as a freshman, and work on something

like ethics reform, it’s not necessarily a way to endear yourself to
some of the veteran members of the Illinois General Assembly. And
working on issues like racial profiling was contentious, but Barack
had a way both intellectually and in demeanor that defused skeptics.
Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political

Reform, said of Barack, ‘‘He wasn’t a maverick. There were other legis-
lators I would turn to if I just wanted to make a lot of noise. That
wasn’t his style.’’13
Dan Shomon, Illinois state senate legislative aide and later Barack’s
Illinois campaign manager, said that when he was first asked to work
with Barack in Springfield he was reluctant, having the impression
that Barack could be rather testy and elitist, and that his first reaction
was ‘‘I am thinking that I am really busy. He wants to change the world
and that is great, but I don’t really like the guy that much.’’ After the
two met, they genuinely hit it off.14
Shomon said, ‘‘There was a gradual progression of Barack Obama
from thoughtful, earnest policy wonk/civil rights lawyer/consti-
tutional law expert to Barack Obama the politician, the inspirer, the
speaker.’’15
Denny Jacobs, a friend of Barack’s and a former state senator, said,
He stumbled on the fact that instead of running on all the issues,

quote unquote, that hope is the real key. Not only the black commu-
nity but less privileged people are looking for that hope. You don’t
have to talk about health care you have to talk about ‘the promise’ of
health care. Hope is a pretty inclusive word. I think he is very good

at selling that.16
In the Illinois state senate, Barack took major risks on legislation that
could have cast him as a liberal. He was the key leader behind a law
requiring that all confessions and interrogations in murder cases be vid-
eotaped, a provision about which many police and prosecutors and
even the Illinois’ Democratic governor at first expressed doubts. ‘‘That
was risky. We haven’t seen that exactly on the national level,’’ said Julie
Hamos, a Democratic Illinois state representative.17
Like many of his colleagues, Barack played golf, pickup basketball,
and made the rounds at the parties. He was also known to join the
weekly poker game with legislators and lobbyists. One of his colleagues,
state senator Larry Walsh, described Barack as competitive yet careful,
and always hard to read. Walsh said,
One night, we were playing … and I had a real good hand and Bar-
ack beat me out with another one. I slammed down my cards and
said, ‘‘Doggone it, Barack, if you were a little more liberal in your
card playing and a little more conservative in your politics, you and I
would get along a lot better.’’18
Dave Syverson, a Republican committee chairman who worked on

welfare reform with Barack said,
He was passionate in his views. We had some pretty fierce arguments.

We went round and round about how much to spend on day care,
for example. But he was not your typical party-line politician. A lot
of Democrats didn’t want to have any work requirement at all for
people on welfare. Barack was willing to make that deal.19
Mike Lawrence, director of the Public Policy Institute at Southern

Illinois University, said,
What impressed me about him was his ability in working with

people of the opposite party. He had definite ideas about what ought
to be contained in a campaign finance reform measure, but he also
was willing to recognize that he was probably not going to get every-
thing he wanted.20
John Bouman, a director of the Chicago-based National Center for

Poverty Law, said,
He is idealistic but practical. For Barack, it’s not a constant flow of

glorious defeats. He has good attention to ideals and core principles,
but a recognition that it is good to get things done from year to year.
He is willing to hammer out a good compromise, but he doesn’t
compromise for the sake of it.21
In 1999, Barack voted ‘‘present’’ on a vote making adult prosecution

mandatory for aggravated discharge of a firearm in or near a school. He
explained his vote, saying, ‘‘There is really no proof or indication that
automatic transfers and increased penalties and adult penalties for juvenile
offenses have, in fact, proven to be more effective in reducing juvenile
crime or cutting back on recidivism.’’22
In 2000, Rich Miller, the publisher of Capitol Fax, a statehouse news
service, said, ‘‘Barack is a very intelligent man. He hasn’t had a lot of
success here, and it could be because he places himself above everybody.
He likes people to know he went to Harvard.’’ Six years later, Barack
met with Miller and they discussed the characterization. Miller noted,
He took that criticism the right way and he could have taken it the
wrong way. A lot of politicians, they know that they’re smart. They
know that they’re capable. It messes with their minds. Politics is not
a game of qualifications. It’s a game of winning.… I just can’t
emphasize enough how much this guy became respected, and how
transformative it was. By 2004, he just had this aura about him.23
In 2001, Barack voted against a measure that would have expanded

the penalties for some gang activity to include the death penalty. At the
time, Barack said that the bill would unfairly target minorities, stating:
‘‘There’s a strong overlap between gang affiliation and young men of
color.… I think it’s problematic for them to be singled out as more
likely to receive the death penalty for carrying out certain acts than are
others who do the same thing.’’24
In June 2001, Will Marshall, an official of the moderate Democratic
Leadership Council, visited Barack in Chicago. Marshall had heard
good things about Barack and wanted to meet him. At the meeting,
they talked about social policy after welfare reform, about the effects of
globalization, and about other issues. Marshall said the following of the
meeting: ‘‘I was deeply impressed. He has an analytical capacity, but he
doesn’t talk like a wonk—sort of like [President] Clinton.’’25
Barack ran an unsuccessful campaign against incumbent Bobby Rush
for the U.S. Senate in 2000. Receiving only 31% of the vote, he
returned to Springfield as someone who lost (Barack said he was
‘‘spanked’’ in the race), and as someone who within a short time earned
the respect of his fellow senators. According to Illinois state senator
Donne Trotter,
I wouldn’t say losing humbled him. Barack is a competitor, and being

a competitor, you don’t like to lose. When he came back, he really
immersed himself in the process. He learned he had to get an
agenda, to get issues he felt passionately about. He also learned some
of those ‘‘get-along’’ qualities you need to get a bill passed. He has
proven himself to me that he can take advice. He’s not a one-man
operation.26
Barack reflected on the race he lost to Representative Bobby Rush:

‘‘[T]here was very little chance of me winning that race. That was a
good lesson—that you should never be too impressed with your own
ideas if your name recognition in a Congressional district is only eight
or whatever it was.’’27 Barack wrote in his book The Audacity of Hope,
Less than halfway into the campaign, I knew in my bones that I was
going to lose. Each morning from that point forward I awoke with a
vague sense of dread, realizing that I would have to spend the day
smiling and shaking hands and pretending that everything was going
according to plan.28
After President Clinton endorsed Rush in a radio spot, everyone knew

the race was over. The race was called for Rush as Barack was set to
speak to his supporters in Hyde Park, Illinois. To the crowd of about
50 supporters, he said, ‘‘I confess to you winning is better than los-
ing.’’29 Barack reflected on the loss, saying:
I was completely mortified and humiliated, and felt terrible. The big-
gest problem in politics is the fear of loss. It’s a very public thing,
which most people don’t have to go through. Obviously, the flip side
of publicity and hype is when you fall, folks are right there, snapping
away. And so that is something naturally you worry about, but my
hope is that I’ve been in this long enough and through this process
enough that I take the good with the bad and don’t read the good
press clippings or the bad press clippings.30
Abner Mikva, a former federal judge and Congressman from Chicago

said the following of the ill-fated campaign against Bobby Rush: ‘‘He
[Barack] was very dejected when it was over and [began] thinking of
how else he could use his talents.’’31
In 2004, Laimutis Nargelenas, a lobbyist for the Illinois Association
of Chiefs of Police, observed that although Barack sometimes voted for
‘‘individual rights’’ rather than ‘‘the ability of law enforcement to get
things done,’’ he was always thoughtful on law and order and on sup-
porting funding for police programs. Nargelenas said, ‘‘When he said
he was going to do something, you could always trust him on his
word.’’32
‘‘Obama’s drive to compromise goes beyond the call of political
expediency—it’s instinctive, almost a tic,’’ wrote Larissa MacFarquhar
of the New Yorker in May 2007. A friend from law school, Cassandra
Butts, said,
Barack has an incredible ability to synthesize seemingly contradictory

realities and make them coherent. It comes from going from a home
where white people are nurturing you, and then you go out into the
world and you’re seen as a black person. He had to figure out
whether he was going to accept this contradiction and be just one of
those things, or find a way to realize that these pieces make up the
whole.
This skill served Barack well in the Illinois state senate, writes Larissa
MacFarquhar. ‘‘He was unusually dexterous with opponents, and passed
bills that at first were judged too liberal to have a chance.’’33
Barack said of his time in state politics:
My experience in the state legislature is instructive. The first seven

years I was there I was in the minority, and I think that I passed
maybe ten bills, maybe five of them were substantive. Most of the
bills that I did pass were in partnership with Republicans, because
that was the only way I could get them passed. The first year we were
in the majority party I passed twenty-six bills in one year.34
Barack said that in Springfield he learned early
that forming relationships a lot of times was more important than

having all the policy talking points in your arsenal. That most of the
time people at the state level—and in the U.S. Senate—are moved as
much by whether or not they trust you and whether or not they
think your values are sound as they are by graphs and charts and
numbers on a page.35
While serving in the state legislature, Barack was a senior lecturer at

the University of Chicago Law School. He said,
Teaching keeps you sharp. The great thing about teaching constitutional
law is that all the tough questions land in your lap: abortion, gay rights,
affirmative action. And you need to be able to argue both sides. I have
to be able to argue the other side as well as [conservative Supreme Court
Judge Antonin] Scalia does. I think that’s good for one’s politics.36
The United Kingdom-based The Economist magazine said of Barack,

‘‘Mr. Obama is tough. He thrived in the world of Illinois politics, one
that is dominated by entrenched political machines that pride them-
selves on their bare knuckle tactics.’’37
The Chicago Tribune endorsed Barack for his seat in the Illinois state
senate and wrote the following in their editorial: ‘‘In 1996, this page
endorsed a Chicago attorney, law school instructor and community
activist named Barack Obama for a seat in the Illinois state senate …
our modest prediction: We said Obama ‘has potential as a political
leader.’ ’’ On January 27, 2008, the Tribune endorsed Barack for the
Illinois Primary and in their editorial, reminded their readers of their
1996 endorsement and added, ‘‘He is the Democrat best suited to lead
this nation. We offer him our endorsement for the February 5 Illinois
Primary.… Obama can help this nation move forward.… Our takew-
away: Obama has the confidence to speak truth, poll-tested or not.’’38
Barack wrote the following:
[T]hroughout my years in Springfield [Illinois], I had clung to the

notion that politics could be different, and that the voters wanted
something different; that they were tired of distortion, name-calling,

and sound-bite solutions to complicated problems; that if I could
reach those voters directly, frame the issues as I felt them, explain the
choices in as truthful a fashion as I knew how, then the people’s
instincts for fair play and common sense would bring them around.
If enough of us took that risk, I thought, not only the country’s poli-
tics but the country’s policies would change for the better.39
After losing the election to Bobby Rush, Barack was $60,000 in debt
and unsure of his future. He returned to teaching and his legislative
responsibilities in Springfield. He decided to try it again in the 2004
race for a U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Peter Fitzgerald and
sought the assistance of Emil Jones, president of the state senate. Barack
told Jones, ‘‘You’ve got a lot of power. You have the power to make a
United State Senator.’’ When Jones asked Barack what he had in mind,
Barack described his strategy for getting elected. Jones reply was, ‘‘Let’s
go for it.’’ Barack met with Marty Nesbitt, a top fundraiser, as he eyed
the Senate race. Barack told Nesbitt, ‘‘If you raise $4 million, I have a
40% chance of winning. If you raise $6 million, I have a 60% chance
of winning. You raise $10 million, I guarantee you I can win.’’ Nesbitt
said, ‘‘It was a matter of having the money to tell his story.’’40
While a state senator, Barack told the New Yorker magazine the
following:
A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good

sentence. Or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it.
They say ‘‘Huh. It works. It makes sense.’’ That doesn’t happen too
often [in politics], of course, but it happens.41
NOTES
1. David Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power (New York: Amistad, 2007), 103–
104.
2. Ryan Lizza, ‘‘The Natural,’’ Atlantic Monthly, September 2004, 30.
4. Janny Scott, ‘‘In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd,’’ New York Times,
July 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed July 30, 2007).
5. Peter Slevin, ‘‘Obama Forged Political Mettle in Illinois Capitol,’’ Washington Post,
February 9, 2007, A01.
6. Ibid.
7. Ron Fournier, ‘‘The Unknown: Is Obama Ready?’’ Associated Press, June 17, 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com (accessed June 18, 2007).
8. Ibid.
9. Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power, 128.
10. Ibid.
11. Scott, ‘‘In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd.’’
12. Ibid.
13. Slevin, ‘‘Obama Forged Political Mettle in Illinois Capitol.’’
14. Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power, 115–116.
15. Janny Scott, ‘‘In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama,’’ New
York Times, September 9, 2007, 20.
16. Ibid.
17. Perry Bacon, Jr., ‘‘The Exquisite Dilemma of Being Obama,’’ Time, February 20,
2006, 24.
19. Joe Klein, ‘‘The Fresh Face,’’ Nation, October 23, 2006, 44.
21. Mendell, Obama: From Promise to Power, 127.
22. Sam Youngman and Aaron Blake, ‘‘Obama’s Crime Votes Are Fodder for Rivals,’’
The Hill, March 13, 2007, http://www.thehill.com (accessed May 12, 2008).
23. Edward McClelland, ‘‘How Obama Learned to Be a Natural,’’ Salon, February 12,
2007, http://www.salon.com (accessed May 12, 2008).
24. Youngman and Blake, ‘‘Obama’s Crime Votes Are Fodder for Rivals.’’
25. Byron York, ‘‘Obama Madness,’’ National Review, November 20, 2006, 18.
26. McClelland, ‘‘How Obama Learned to Be a Natural.’’
27. Scott, ‘‘In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama.’’
28. Ibid.
29. Michael Weisskopf, ‘‘How He Learned to Win,’’ Time, May 19, 2008, 28.
30. David Remnick, ‘‘Testing the Waters,’’ New Yorker, November 6, 2006, http://
www.newyorker.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
31. Weisskopf, ‘‘How He Learned to Win,’’ 28.
32. Youngman and Blake, ‘‘Obama’s Crime Votes Are Fodder for Rivals.’’
33. Larissa MacFarquhar, ‘‘The Conciliator,’’ The New Yorker, May 7, 2007, http://www.
newyorker.com (accessed December 18, 2007).
34. Ken Silverstein, ‘‘Barack Obama,’’ Harper’s Magazine, November 2006, 31–40.
35. Scott, ‘‘In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd.’’
Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2007), 78–79.
37. ‘‘Obamamania,’’ The Economist, January 12, 2008, 27.
38. ‘‘For the Democrats: Obama,’’ Chicago Tribune, January 27, 2008, http://www.
chicagotribune.com (accessed January 28, 2008).
39. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope, (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006), 17–18.
40. Weisskopf, ‘‘How He Learned to Win,’’ 29–30.
CHAPTER 4
On U.S. Senate Politics
‘‘Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working

together in a practical, common-sense way. Politics has become
so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence,
that we can’t tackle the big problems that demand solutions.’’1
‘‘I do think there are moments in American history where there

are opportunities to change the language of politics or set the
country’s sights in a different place, and I think we’re in one of
those moments.’’2
Introduction
In Barack Obama, there was always something different and exciting.

For many, he represented change, a breath of fresh air, and a new possi-
bility. It did not seem to matter to Illinois voters that Barack was a
black man with an unusual heritage. Instead, they recognized he was an
orator, a teacher, a legislator, and many gravitated to him. Barack wrote
in his memoir The Audacity of Hope that his campaign for the U.S.
Senate was indicative of some of the changes that have taken place in the
white and black communities over the past twenty-five years. Barack wrote
that Illinois already had history of blacks elected to statewide office. His
race, Barack noted, did not preclude the possibility of his win, nor was
his election aided by the evolving racial attitudes of Illinois’ white voters.
His own campaign, Barack wrote, was not a novelty.3 It is true that
although Barack entered the U.S. Senate as a celebrity, he was also recog-
nized as one of its weakest members. He had no seniority, he was getting
far more media attention than many of his experienced colleagues, and he
entered a legislative body that was controlled by the other party. He also
had to quickly learn the ropes. Still, he hit the ground running amid near
constant questions about his possible run for the 2008 presidency.
To the ballroom packed with his supporters the night of the election
for U.S. Senator, Barack said,
I think it’s fair to say that the conventional wisdom was we could not
win. We didn’t have enough money. We didn’t have enough organiza-
tion. There was no way that a skinny guy from the South Side with
a funny name like Barack Obama could ever win a statewide race.
Sixteen months later we are here, and Democrats from all across
Illinois—suburbs, city, downstate, upstate, black, white, Hispanic,
Asian—have declared: Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can!4
Rahm Emanuel, former Clinton aide and now a congressman from
Illinois, said the following of Barack’s campaigning for his U.S. Senate
seat: ‘‘Twenty years ago, if I’d said there would be lawn signs with pic-
tures of an African-American, with an African surname, all over my dis-
trict on the Northwest side of Chicago, people would have had me
tested for drugs. Yet there they were.’’5
Asked about his sudden stardom after winning the election in Illinois,
Barack said,
The pundits and the prognosticators presumed that a skinny guy

with a funny name from the South Side of Chicago couldn’t get any
votes outside a pretty narrow band of the electorate. I think the
primary blew those assumptions out of the water. And I think people
are proud of that.6
The chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

and Senator from New Jersey, John Corzine, said, ‘‘I think Barack
Obama is one of the most interesting and capable individuals that is
running this time, if not in any election. Frankly, he will be one of the
easier candidates to raise resources for.’’7
Donna Brazile, a Democratic strategist who ran Al Gore’s campaign
in 2000, said of Barack, ‘‘My greatest fear for Barack is that he’ll be in
the background, another black face in the sea of whiteness. For now he
doesn’t have to become the next black leader. He has to become a great
Senator from the state of Illinois.’’8
Barack said he thought the election signaled a maturing of not just
black voters, but Illinois voters all across the board. He added that
people in his home state showed that they were more interested in the
message than the color of the messenger, adding that ‘‘I have an
unusual name and an exotic background, but my values are essentially
American values. I’m rooted in the African-American community, but
I’m not limited by it. I think this election shows that.’’9
At a rally for Senator Russ Feingold in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Octo-
ber 2004, Barack was enthusiastically introduced by Gwen Moore, a
Democrat running for Congress: ‘‘He’s all of us! He’s not black! He’s not
white! He’s not you know … I was going to say, he’s not male, he’s not
female,’’ she laughed as Barack strode onto the stage as the huge crowd
cheered. Squinting in the sun, Barack surveyed the crowd and said, ‘‘My
wife knows whether I’m a man or a woman. I just wanted Gwen to know
that.’’ Speaking louder to the cheering crowed, he continued to say that
until recently no one knew his name, and if people knew it, they couldn’t
pronounce it. Then, establishing his humility, he described his vision for
the Democratic Party:
There is another tradition in politics that says we’re all connected. I

don’t just have to worry about my own child. I have to worry about
the child that cannot read. It’s not enough that I am part of the
African-American community. I’ve got to worry about the Arab-

American family that John Ashcroft is rounding up, because I might
be next.10
Barack said he was happy to have made it through his first Senate year
without falling ‘‘flat on my face.’’ In response to what makes him differ-
ent, Barack answered,
Where I probably can make a unique contribution is in helping to

bring people together and bridging what I call the ‘‘empathy deficit,’’
helping to explain the disparate factions in this country and to show
them how we’re joined together, helping bridge divides between black
and white, rich and poor, even conservative and liberal. The story
I’m interested in telling is how we can restore that sense of commit-
ment to each other in a way that doesn’t inhibit our individual
responsibility, but does promote collective responsibility.11
During his first year in office, Barack traveled around the country
raising $1.8 million for his Hopefund political action committee and
devoted his public schedule to ensure Illinois voters knew he was focus-
ing on their concerns; he held thirty-nine town meetings, most down-
state where his support was not as strong as it was in Chicago. Barack
noted, ‘‘If I can look back over the first year and say, ‘I had a set of
concrete accomplishments, even though they are not generating a lot of
headlines, then I’ll feel good.’ ’’12
Barack arrived in Washington, D.C. after receiving 70 percent of the
vote in his election, and after his speech at the Democratic National
Convention. He was only the third African American elected to the
Senate since Reconstruction; as a result, he was already something of a
celebrity. David Axelrod, Barack’s long-time friend and political advisor,
said of Barack, ‘‘Very few people have come to the Senate with the kind
of ballyhoo that [Obama] did, and the danger was the [he] would be
viewed as a triumph of form over content. The last thing he wanted to
convey was that he had ‘gone Hollywood.’ ’’13
Barack said of his first year as a Senator, ‘‘I think I’ve done a very
good job meeting my responsibilities as a senator and helping the Dem-
ocratic Party. I think I’ve done an adequate job with respect to being a
husband and a father because you can always do more on those
fronts.’’14 When asked what was the toughest thing he had to face as a
senator, Barack replied,
Being in the minority is always tough.… I was in the state senate for
seven years before I was in the U.S. Senate … and to some degree the
experiences in the state legislature are identical to Congress, except that
there are a lot of reporters around in Washington and there are virtu-
ally none in the state capitol.… I went for six years, maybe passing ten
bills … and was extraordinarily frustrated. We attained the majority
the seventh year and I passed twenty-six bills … it wasn’t that I was
smarter in year seven than I was in year six, or more experienced; it
was that we had power. And so the frustration, or the difficulty, that I
feel in the U.S. Senate is very similar. You can have the best agenda in
the world, but if you don’t control the gavel you cannot move an
agenda forward. And, when you do control the gavel, not only can
you move an agenda forward but you can actually [move them]. I con-
stantly see opportunities for collaboration across ideological lines to get
stuff done. But you have to be the one who’s dictating how the com-
promises work. If it’s somebody who’s not interested in compromising
who’s in charge, you can come up with all sorts of good ideas, and
they’ll stiff you. If you’re the person who somebody else has to come
to, you can actually engage … and that is, by the way, the most grati-
fying feeling in politics, for me: when you hit that sweet spot where
everybody concludes that the law that we’ve just passed works and is
going to make things better, and everybody across party lines has to
confess that we’re probably better off with this thing than not.15
When asked how he was adjusting to Washington, D.C. and the

city’s political culture, Barack replied, ‘‘I have not had to partake of the
culture much. My family lives in Chicago, and I’m usually here Tues-
day through Thursday. I rarely meet lobbyists, it’s one of the benefits of
having a good staff.’’ When asked about fundraising, he said,
The first $250,000 that I raised was like pulling teeth. No major Demo-
cratic donors knew me, I had a funny name, they wouldn’t take my
phone calls. Then at a certain point we sort of clicked into the public
consciousness and the buzz, and I benefited from a lot of small individ-
ual contributions that helped me get over the hump. And then after
winning, the notoriety that I received made raising money relatively

simple, and so I don’t have the same challenges that most candidates do
now, and that’s pure luck. It’s one of the benefits of celebrity.16
When Barack was asked what he was most proud of after his first
year in office, he responded, ‘‘I am really proud of the work we did on
veterans affairs, because it’s an issue that affects people across the state
of Illinois. We were able to help close the gap in disability payments
going to Illinois’ disabled veterans, compared to other states.’’17
On his opposition to the Iraq war and whether he had become less vocal
and why he had taken a low-key approach and had not delivered speeches
on the topic when he first arrived in the Senate, Barack responded,
As a freshman, our objective was not to try to get in the front all the
time. But the truth is that in that first year, we had just seen an Iraqi
election, and my feeling was that while I was not optimistic, it was
appropriate to try to give the nascent government a chance.18
In March 2006, the National Journal did a story on Barack and his
first year in the Senate. When writer Kirk Victor asked about early
impressions of the Senate, Barack responded. ‘‘I am surprised by the
lack of deliberation in the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body.’’ Noting
that it is a change from the state legislature, ‘‘where every bill had to be
defended and subject to questions. Here, there is a lot more of compet-
ing press releases, and I think that contributes to some of the partisan-
ship and lack of serious negotiation.’’19
Barack earned kudos from the opposite of the political aisle in his
first two years in the Republican-controlled Senate. Tom Coburn, a
conservative Senate Republican said,
If Barack disagrees with you or thinks you haven’t done something

appropriate, he’s the kind of guy who’ll talk to you about it. He’ll
come up and reconcile: ‘‘I don’t think you were truthful about my
bill.’’ I’ve seen him do that. On the Senate floor.20
Coburn also said,
What Washington does is cause everybody to concentrate on where

they disagree as opposed to where they agree. But leadership changes
that. And Barack’s got that capability, I believe—and the pizzazz and
the charisma—to be a leader of America, not a leader of Democrats.21
Barack noted that the ‘‘blogger community’’ was frustrated with him
because they thought he was too willing to compromise with Republicans.
My argument is that a polarized electorate plays to the advantage of

those who want to dismantle government. Karl Rove can afford to
win with 51 percent of the vote. They’re not trying to reform health
care. They are content with an electorate that is cynical about gov-
ernment. Progressives have a harder job. They need a big enough
majority to initiate bold proposals.22
When asked if he was a liberal, a progressive, or a centrist, Barack

answered that he likes to believe he’s above all that. He says,
[T]he way I would describe myself is I think that my values are

deeply rooted in the progressive tradition, the values of equal oppor-
tunity, civil rights, fighting for working families, a foreign policy that
is mindful of human rights, a strong belief in civil liberties, wanting
to be a good steward for the environment, a sense that the govern-
ment has an important role to play, that opportunity is open to all
people and that the powerful don’t trample on a less powerful.23
Thought to have abundant political ambitions, Barack was seen as tak-

ing a cautious and nonconfrontational approach to his policymaking.
Since the founding, the American political tradition has been reform-
ist, not revolutionary. What that means is that for a political leader to
get things done, he or she ideally should be ahead of the curve, but
not too far ahead. I want to push the envelope but make sure I have
enough folks with me that I’m not rendered politically impotent.24
Despite concerns over Barack’s level of experience and his short time
in the U.S. Senate, Eric Zorn, columnist for the Chicago Tribune, wrote
the following:
Obama has served in the minority party in the U.S. Senate for two
years—not a position with much leverage. Still, he managed to get
his name on sunshine legislation to track and search government

spending online, action to send additional humanitarian relief to the
Congo and a nuclear threat reduction program. He’s also promoted
the interests of military veterans.’’25
Gregory Craig, an attorney with Williams & Connolly and a longtime

Democratic figure, said of Barack, ‘‘I liked his sense of humor and the
confidence he had discussing national issues, especially as a state senator.
You felt excited to be in his presence.’’ He added that Barack is not seen
as a ‘‘polarizer’’ like other African American leaders such as Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton, adding, ‘‘He gets respect from his adversaries because of
the way he treats them. He doesn’t try to be all things to all people, but
he has a way of taking positions you don’t like without making you
angry.’’26
Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama smiles as he is intro-

duced at a state Democratic election celebration party in Manchester, New
Hampshire, December 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)
While Obama has drawn praise from Democrats and Republicans

for his intellect and diligence, he’s struggling to please all those
who expect something from him: liberals want the formerly feisty
antiwar candidate to be the standard bearer for their causes, Dem-
ocrats in Washington want him to take on Bush, African-Americans
want the only black Senator to speak out on racial issues, and
moderates and Republicans like McCain want to see Obama’s
bipartisan side. It’s a complicated balance, particularly for a man
who would need the support of all those disparate groups to
become President.27
David Axelrod said, ‘‘People have enormous expectations of him. And

to live up to them is difficult. He’s just a person, and the minute you
start casting votes, you make some people happy and some people
unhappy.’’28 Barack said,
You should always assume that when I cast a vote or make a state-
ment it is because it is what I believe in. The thing that bothers
me is the assumption that if I make a judgment that’s different
from yours, then it must mean I am less progressive or my goals
are different, meaning I must be not really committed to helping
people.29
Congressman Bobby Rush, of Illinois, said: ‘‘I think that Obama, his
election to the Senate, was divinely ordered. I’m a preacher and a
pastor; I know that that was God’s plan. Obama has certain qualities
that—I think he is being used for some purpose.’’30
Senator John McCain said of Barack: ‘‘He is a voice of strength and
moderation, an American success story.’’31
NOTES
2. Ibid., 99.
3. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006), 234,
240.
4. Monica Davey, ‘‘As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born,’’ New York
Times, March, 18, 2004, A.20.

6. Ryan Lizza, ‘‘The Natural,’’ Atlantic Monthly, September 2004, 30–33.
7. Davey, ‘‘As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born.’’
8. Amanda Ripley, David Thigpen, and Jeannie McCabe, ‘‘Obama’s Ascent,’’ Time,
November 15, 2004, 74–81.
9. Davey, ‘‘As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born.’’
10. Ripley, Thigpen, and McCabe, ‘‘Obama’s Ascent.’’
11. Jodi Enda, ‘‘Great Expectations,’’ American Prospect, February 5, 2006.
13. Kirk Victor, ‘‘Reason to Smile,’’ National Journal, March 18, 2006, 18–27.
14. Zeleny, ‘‘The First Time Around.’’
15. David Remnick, ‘‘Testing the Waters,’’ The New Yorker, November 6, 2006, http://
16. Ken Silverstein, ‘‘Barack Obama Inc.,’’ Harper’s Magazine, November 2006, 31–40.
17. Kirk Victor, ‘‘In His Own Words: Barack Obama,’’ National Journal, March 18,
2006, 22–23.
18. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘As Candidate, Obama Carves Antiwar Stance,’’ New York Times, Feb-
ruary 26, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed February 26, 2007).
19. Victor, ‘‘Reason to Smile.’’
20. Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams, 105–106.
21. Ibid.
22. Silverstein, ‘‘Barack Obama Inc.’’
23. Enda, ‘‘Great Expectations.’’
25. Eric Zorn, ‘‘Obama Critics Build Cases on Faulty Premises,’’ Chicago Tribune,
December 19, 2006. Quoted in John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This Improbable
Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008), 153.
2006, 24.
28. Ibid.
29. David Sirota, ‘‘Mr. Obama Goes to Washington,’’ The Nation, June 8, 2006, http://
www.thenation.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
30. Janny Scott, ‘‘In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama,’’ New
York Times, September 9, 2007, 20.
CHAPTER 5
On the Campaign for the
Presidency and the Concerns and
Criticisms of His Campaign
‘‘I’m not somebody who at the age of 5 or 6 dreamed about

being president. It’s not something that I’m focused on right
now, but it’s not something that I would foreclose in the
future.’’1
‘‘Are you thinking about Obama ’08? It is not going to happen.

I don’t intend to run for president in the next election.’’2
‘‘I’m in this to win, I want to win, and I think we will win. But
I’m also going to emerge intact. I’m going to be Barack Obama
and not some parody.’’3
On the Campaign for the Presidency 73
Introduction
On July 27, 2004, Illinois state senator Barack Obama delivered the
keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. He said,
‘‘Tonight is a particular honor for me because, let’s face it, my presence
on this stage is pretty unlikely.’’ As he spoke, the audience listened with
rapt attention. When he finished his speech, they excitedly waved their
arms, hats, and signs, and were obviously thrilled with what they had
just heard. Those watching on television said that they had cheered,
some said they stood up and clapped, and some even admitted they
danced. For days, people wondered what had happened and who this
man was. For many Democrats, the speech was electrifying and inspir-
ing; for Democrats, it was a joyful time. Those from the other side of
the political aisle who watched and listened had to agree that this fresh
face, this politico, unknown to nearly everyone in the country outside
of his home state of Illinois, had just delivered a remarkable speech.
Many wanted to know more about him and where he came from. They
asked why was he selected to deliver such an important speech at the
Democratic National Convention at a time described by many as a very
contentious one in American politics. When Barack delivered the speech,
he was in the midst of a campaign for the U.S. Senate. In November, he
won the contest by a landslide, and in January 2005 he was sworn in as
the only African American currently in the Senate. At the time, Barack
was not a household name and few knew him outside of the state of Illi-
nois. But it was not long before there were whispers and then louder voi-
ces about the junior senator from Illinois running for president. In
February 2007, Barack announced his candidacy. He had already been
testing the waters by visiting the early primary and caucus states. He for-
mally announced his candidacy in Springfield in front of the Old State
Capitol Building, and in front of thousands of supporters standing in the
frigid cold air of an Illinois winter.
As Obama campaigned for the presidency, he stumbled as most poli-
ticians have and still do. In his speeches and in his statements to huge
crowds, to audiences in small venues, and to the ever-present gaggle of
media that constantly surrounds him, Barack has said things that have
been misconstrued and taken out of context. He has, like most people
in the public eye, made mistakes and made decisions based on political
advantage, such as deciding not to accept public financing. Those who

supported him and spoke on his behalf have also stumbled, and his
opponents are quick to criticize and use his gaffes and errors in their
own campaigning. The twenty-four-hour news cycle also has continu-
ally used his errors, and the errors made by other candidates, sometimes
running a constant loop of video. There are the pundits who talk inces-
santly about what was said, how it was said, or what was not said or
done.
Throughout the long campaign, there have also been concerns and
criticisms voiced about Barack’s experience and/or the lack thereof;
there have been questions about his faith, and whether he was all talk
and no specifics. For a time, the missteps, the misspoken words, and
the mistakes seemed to be never ending. From his former pastor’s fiery
rhetoric, which forced Barack eventually to leave his church, to the
rumors of being a Muslim, to being endorsed by terrorists, to being
criticized for not wearing a flag pin, and to questions about his patriot-
ism, Barack has had his critics and skeptics. Yet he seems to never lose
his cool and has generally kept his message and campaign on track. It
has been a campaign that has been more than a year in the making,
and like all politicians, Obama has found that he has had to explain
himself, deflect the criticisms, and address the concerns. Most observe
that he has an amazing talent to fire up a crowd, that his ability to draw
thousands of people throughout the campaign has not been seen before,
and that his speaking and rhetorical skills are unmatched; but his
debate skills, others have observed, need to be polished, and his mes-
sage needs more specifics. There have been many debates with his
rivals, and as the field narrowed to one competitor, Senator Hillary
Clinton from New York, there were more debates. It has been a long
and arduous battle, and the primary season continued until June 4,
2008, when Barack became the presumptive nominee for the Demo-
cratic Party to face Senator John McCain from Arizona, the Republican
presumptive nominee, in the general election in November 2008.
The Campaign for the Presidency
Politics didn’t lead me to working folks. Working folks led me

to politics.4
David Axelrod said, ‘‘The first conversation about the presidential

campaign was that there was not going to be a presidential campaign.’’
Barack agreed and added,
We very deliberately tried to tamp down expectations. I didn’t do any

national interviews until Katrina. I tried to be very deliberate in terms
of the work that I did here in the U.S. Senate. I didn’t file a lot of
symbolic bills—like a universal health care bill or other legislation that
I wasn’t in a position to pass because we were in a minority party.5
In the fall of 2006, as Barack was on a book tour to promote his sec-
ond book, The Audacity of Hope, his friends encouraged him to be open
about his presidential ruminations. The result was a wave of national
publicity. Time put him on the cover with the headline, ‘‘Why Barack
Obama Could Be the Next President.’’6 On October 22, 2006, Barack
appeared on the NBC television show Meet the Press with commentator
Tim Russert. In an attempt to get a straight answer about whether he
would run, Russert’s interview went as follows:
Russert: But it’s fair to say you’re thinking about running for
president in 2008?
Barack: It’s fair, yes.
Russert: And so when you said to me in January [2006], ‘‘I will not.’’
That statement is no longer operative.
Barack: The—I would say that I am still at the point where I have
not made a decision to, to pursue higher office, but it is true
that I have thought about it over the last several months.
Russert: So, it sounds as if the door has opened a bit.
Barack: A bit.7
In November 2006, Barack and Michelle met with a team of advi-

sors to discuss a possible campaign for the presidency. Michelle said, ‘‘I
want you to show me how you’re going to do this. You need to show
me that this is not going to be a bullshit fly-by-night campaign.’’ A
month later, there was another meeting with advisors, and soon the
word was out that Barack was considering a run.8
In late 2006, Barack had dinner with some of the Democrats’ most
powerful African American women. Several had already committed
their support to Senator Hillary Clinton. Of the dinner meeting,

Barack said,
A lot of those women are good friends; they’d all be supporters of mine
if I just stayed in the U.S. Senate. Talking with them about potentially
running for president caused some conflicts, because a sizeable number
of them are very close to Senator Clinton. I think there’s no doubt that
it would be easier for a lot of people in Washington if I had decided
that I was going to take a pass and wait my appropriate turn, which
might be, from their perspective, 10 years from now, or at least once
the Clintons had exhausted all possibilities of running any further.9
Michelle said of her husband’s possible run for the presidency: ‘‘I
took myself down every dark road you could go on, just to prepare
myself before we jumped out there.’’ She wondered if they were really
emotionally and financially ready and that she had dreamed out all the
scenarios she could think of. She concluded that the bottom line was
that the little sacrifice they had to make was nothing compared to the
possibility of what they could do if his campaign caught on.10
In November 2006, the Washingtonian magazine featured an article enti-
tled, ‘‘The Legend of Barack Obama.’’ At the same time, a Google search
noted such adjectives as ‘‘superstar’’ and ‘‘rock star’’ and ‘‘electrifying.’’ And
it was not just Democrats who were excited; a Republican operative was
quoted as referring to Barack as a ‘‘walking, talking hope machine.’’11
Democrats and Republicans alike saw Barack as a formidable candidate.
A former fellow Illinois senator said, ‘‘In Republican circles, we’ve always
feared that Barack would become a rock star of American politics.’’12
According to a Democratic Party strategist in November 2006, Bar-
ack had yet to be tested or scrutinized and the Republicans had yet to
pore over his past. Barack would, the strategist determined, be a stron-
ger candidate if he had been through the fire and had more experience,
noting ‘‘If he had gone from state senator to governor, and he had
served one term as governor and was running for president, it would be
a much more compelling case (for running in 2008). Then he would
have been in a situation in which he was a final decision-maker.’’13
On a frigid day in February 2007, in front of the Old State Capitol
building in Springfield, Illinois and an estimated 10,000 people, Barack
Obama told America, and indeed the world, that he was running for
president of the United States. With Michelle at his side, and his two
young daughters trailing right behind, a confident Barack walked to the
podium and gazed out at a crowd filled with supporters and the media,
all anxiously waiting to listen. Wearing an overcoat to ward off the stiff
wind and single-digit temperatures, the gloveless Barack presented him-
self as an agent for generational change and as someone who intended
to transform a government in shambles from cynicism, corruption, and
a ‘‘smallness of our politics.’’ He told the crowd, ‘‘The time for that
politics is over. It is through. It’s time to turn the page.’’ Portraying his
candidacy as a movement rather than a campaign, he said, ‘‘Each and
every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be
done. Today we are called once more, and it is time for our generation
to answer that call.’’14
He assured the crowd and the country that he was not interested in
politics as usual, stating, ‘‘I recognize there is a certain presumptuous-
ness in this—a certain audacity—to this announcement. I know that I
haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve
been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must
change.’’ Barack told the crowd that he knew his appeal would only
take him so far and that his campaign was built from the ground up
and that it would build and grow and give his supporters a sense of
ownership in seeking a change in America. As a grassroots political
outsider, he said his campaign cannot only be about him, it must be
about the people and about what he and the American people can do
together, and that together, he added, they could transform a nation.15
Barack’s decision to run for president would be no surprise to the
citizens who lived in western Kenya, Barack’s ancestral home. They
knew their favorite son was destined for great things. Barack’s step-
grandmother, in her mid-80s, who encouraged his father to study in
the United States said, ‘‘I have had a dream you see, a recurring
dream.… I have seen Barack surrounded by soldiers in dress uniform.
At first I did not understand it, but now I realize it is because he is
president.’’ His step-grandmother added that when she first met Barack
on his first visit to Kenya, she knew he was special and ‘‘praised God’’
that he had been able to have such a good education.
Here we all believe education is the key … his father had always
talked about how well he was doing at school. When he came to stay
with us the first time it must have been difficult, but he never let it show.
He ate the same food as the rest of us, eggs, goat, sometimes fish.16
From the onset, Barack pledged to run ‘‘a different kind of cam-
paign,’’ one without mudslinging and personal attacks. He said,
The campaigns shouldn’t be about making each other look bad. They
should be about figuring out how we can all do some good for this
precious country of ours. That’s our mission. And in this mission,
our rivals won’t be one another, and I would assert it won’t even be
the other party. It’s going to be cynicism that we’re fighting against.17
Barack was explicit from the beginning: there was to be ‘‘no drama.’’
He told his aides, ‘‘I don’t want elbowing or finger-pointing. We’re
going to rise or fall together.’’ He wanted steady, calm, focused leader-
ship; he wanted to keep out the grandstanders and make sure the quiet
dissenters spoke up.18 Barack said,
The one thing I am absolutely certain of, is that if all I’m offering is the
same Democratic narrative that has been offered for the last 20 years,
then there’s really no point in my running, because Senator Clinton is
going to be very adept at delivering that message. What makes it worth-
while for me to run is the belief that we can actually change the narra-
tive and create a working majority that we haven’t seen in a very long
time—and that, frankly, the Clintons never put together.19
I don’t want to spend the next year, or the next four years, refighting
the same fights we had in the 1990s. I don’t want to pit red America
against blue America. I want to be president of the United States of
America.20
The Economist magazine said in December 2007,
Mr. Obama is recapturing the excitement that made his campaign

such a spectacle of cheering crowds and kerchinging coffers.… And
Mr. Obama is beginning to offer something that has eluded him so
far—the sense that he just might win … [he] is probably the best
placed candidate to turn a good Democratic year into a landslide …
but he still has to prove he is made of presidential stuff.21
By the end of March 2007, Barack announced his campaign had

raised more than 100,000 donations totaling at least $25 million,
including $6.9 million generated through Internet donations. A great
percentage of the donors were first-time donors who sent $50 to $100
checks from home computers. Barack’s campaign finance chair, Penny
Pritzker, stated, ‘‘This overwhelming response, in only a few short
weeks, shows the hunger for a different kind of politics in this country
and a belief at the grassroots level that Barack Obama can bring out the
best in America to solve our problems.’’22
Barack said,
If you’re involved in any profession, I think your goal is to be at the

top of your profession and to do your best. I wouldn’t be involved in
politics if I didn’t want to influence the debate significantly. And
obviously the president has more influence than anyone over the
direction of our country.23
On the cusp of an historic decision over whether to run for the

White House, Barack said he believed he could move the nation
beyond the generational politics that have defined the last forty years.
Do I have something that is sufficiently unique to offer to the

country that is worth putting my family through a presidential cam-
paign? Politically, I think I would be a viable candidate. So that’s a
threshold question and I wouldn’t run if I didn’t think I could
win.…
Speaking to the experience of Vice President Dick Cheney, a former

defense secretary, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Barack
added that they ‘‘had the best resume on paper of any foreign policy
team and the result has been what I consider to be one of the biggest
foreign policy mistakes in our history.’’24
Columnist Peggy Noonan, writing for the Wall Street Journal, noted
the following in December 2006:
We are getting very excited. Barack Obama is brilliant, eloquent and

fresh. He is ‘‘exciting’’ (David Brooks), ‘‘charming’’ (Bob Schieffer),
‘‘my favorite guy’’ (Oprah Winfrey), has ‘‘charisma’’ (Donna Brazile),
and should run now for president (George Will). Our political and
media establishments, on the rebound from bad history, are sounding

like Marlene Dietrich in her little top hat. Falling in luff again, vot
am I to do, vot am I to do?25
Barack said he understood that people no longer had confidence in

their elected leaders and that they believed ‘‘government feels like a
business instead of a mission.’’ His campaign, he told a crowd of about
1,500 supporters in Denver ‘‘was their campaign,’’ and that ‘‘the
country calls us.’’ He added, ‘‘We have to take over Washington. At
every juncture when the people decided to change this country, it
changed.’’ Michael J. Williams, a Denver chef, stood near the front of
the stage as Barack spoke at the rally. He said he already knew he was
backing Barack as president, stating, ‘‘He has soul and a conscience,
and he’s looking out for Joe Blow.’’26
Newton Minow, a Chicago lawyer who served in the Kennedy
administration said, ‘‘This is the sort of thing you get once in a genera-
tion. This is a connection between what the voters need and what the
voters want. This is the first time I’ve felt it since Jack Kennedy.’’27
Barack’s ambition sometimes makes him overly cautious and he
rarely plays the attack dog for his party. A Senate Democratic aide said,
‘‘He’s very carefully chosen what assignments he will take.’’ Some Dem-
ocrats complained about his high-profile alliances with Republicans,
such as him joining with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative
Republicans in the Senate, to push a bill to monitor Hurricane Katrina
recovery spending. ‘‘He needs to be careful not to look too political
and too out for himself. He needs to pick some fights [with Republi-
cans],’’ said a Democratic strategist in February 2006.28
The global interest in the 2008 presidential race and particularly in
Barack triggered intense media coverage oversees. Barack played well in
Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, and Nairobi. In late February 2007, one of
Japan’s top networks broadcast a special on Barack that sent its ratings
soaring. Washington bureau chief Tadayoshi Li said, ‘‘Historically,
they’ve known Hillary Clinton a long time. Now, Obama has become
the first and only candidate to equal Clinton’s star power in Tokyo.
Other candidates, not so much.’’ Marco Bardazzi, a Washington-based
correspondent for the ANSA Italian News Agency, which serves audien-
ces in Latin America in addition to Italy, has covered two presidential
campaigns. He said, ‘‘Hillary and Barack are the big stars as far as the
coverage is concerned. For us to have Italian journalists traveling to

Springfield, Illinois, two years before the election is, by Italian
standards, crazy.’’ The British press showed similar interests in Barack,
sending one of their correspondents to Springfield for Barack’s
announcement to run for president. ‘‘The fact is, because of this coun-
try’s importance and all its recent screw-ups, the politics of the succes-
sion of George W. Bush are watched like a hawk. I get the sense British
readers are more interested in American politics than British politics.’’29
David Sirota, a Democratic activist said, ‘‘He’s got all the talent. The
question is, are you willing to be criticized, willing to be attacked?’’30
When asked what constitutes being ready for the office of the presi-
dency, Barack answered,
I don’t know exactly what makes somebody ready to be President. It’s

not clear that J.F.K. was ‘‘ready’’ to be President, it’s not clear that
Harry Truman, when he was elevated, was ‘‘ready,’’ and yet, some-
how, some people respond and some people don’t. My instinct is that
people who are ready are folks who go into it understanding the
gravity of their work, and are able to combine vision and judgment.
Having knowledge is important. I’m one of those folks—I wouldn’t
probably fit in with the Administration—who actually thinks that
being informed is a good basis for policy … when you are in Wash-
ington, what struck me was how many really smart, capable people
are around you all the time, offering you great ideas on every prob-
lem under the sun.31
Laurence Tribe, a liberal scholar at Harvard Law School who once

employed Barack as a research assistant, said,
He brings to politics a desire to find common ground, which makes

it impossible to predict exactly how he would line up on various peo-
ple’s litmus test issues. I think he comes at things in a way that is
perpendicular to the usual left-right axis.32
Barack said,
You know, I think we’re in a moment of history where probably the

most important thing we need to do is to bring the country together,
and one of the skills that I bring to bear is being able to pull together
the different strands of American life and … focus on what we have

in common … I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the
ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know the
ways of Washington must change.… It’s possible that, you know,
after we go through this whole process that the voters conclude:
‘‘You know what. He’s not ready.’’ And I respect that. I don’t expect
that simply because I can move people in speeches that that auto-
matically qualifies me for this job. I think that I have to be tested
and run through the paces, and I have to earn this job.33
David Axelrod said,
Obama’s history is that he’s been progressive and pragmatic and been
able to work with both sides of the aisle and people across the ideo-
logical spectrum to get things done. He comes to the tale with a
point of view, but he’s not dogmatic or rigid. He’s willing to compro-
mise on details without sacrificing his principles.34
When Barack took his campaign to Wisconsin for the February 19,
2008 primary, he told an estimated crowd of 17,000 cheering supporters,
‘‘Tonight we are on our way. We also know at this moment the cynics
can no longer say that our hope is false. We have now won east and
west, north and south, and across the heartland of this country we
love. We have given young people a reason to believe, and brought
folks back to the polls who want to believe again. And we are bringing
together Democrats and Independents and Republicans; blacks and
whites; Latinos and Asians; small states and big states, and Red States
and Blue States, into the United States of America.35
If the election was one where a candidate wins by virtue of being

seen as winning, the definition of momentum, it would mean that
voters in future primary and caucus contests would be influenced by
the outcome of all the earlier contests.36
‘‘It’s not experience that people are demanding. It’s capability. It’s
not ‘have you done it before?’ It’s ‘could you do it in the future?’ And
Obama has that ‘could-do-it’ image,’’ said Republican pollster Frank
Luntz in the National Journal.37
Tony Bullock, a former Hill staffer and vice president at Ogilvy Pub-
lic Relations Worldwide, said of Barack, ‘‘It’s not as though he’s the
accidental senator, but, to some degree, his political story is a series of
random walks and chance encounters.’’38
‘‘I like to believe that we can have a leader whose family name is not
Bush or Clinton. I like what Obama had to say,’’ said a fifty-three-year-old
retired software engineer after hearing Barack speak in New Hampshire.39
A sixty-three-year-old man at a Denver rally said, ‘‘He gives me hope
as a presidential candidate. He will win because the American public is
ready for a change. He’s energized people to a level I haven’t seen since
JFK and RFK.’’40
Will Marshall, an official of the Democratic Leadership Council
stated, ‘‘Is four years [in the Senate] enough? It may be too many. Long
service in the Senate doesn’t necessarily prepare you well for the rigors
of a presidential campaign and for crafting a broad message.’’41
Barack’s race was often discussed; his deemed inexperience to be presi-
dent was also a matter of discussion. One comparison was to John F. Ken-
nedy. Theodore Sorensen, JFK’s speechwriter and political advisor, said,
He [Obama] reminds me in many ways of Kennedy in 1960. The

pundits said he was Catholic and too young and inexperienced and
wasn’t a member of the party’s inner circle. They forgot that the
nomination wasn’t decided in Washington but out in the field.42
He was also compared to another former president, Bill Clinton, in

style, a natural ease with people, and an ability to win people over. Like
Clinton, Barack presented himself as ‘‘a new kind of politician who can
rise above and bridge partisan differences.’’43
‘‘Obamamania’’ was rampant throughout the country, and the politi-
cal and societal forces clamoring for new ideas, a new face, and politics
of hope offering a less bitter brand of politics were gathering speed. In
January 2007, Barack told U.S. News & World Report,
I think there is a great hunger for change in the country—and not

just policy change. What I also think they are looking for is change
in tone and a return to some notion of the common good and some
sense of cooperation, of pragmatism over ideology. I’m a stand-in for
that right now.44
Republican pollster Frank Luntz said of Barack in January 2007,
Everyone can see themselves in Obama. He is the definition of the

American dream, the definition of the American promise.… Conser-
vatives see him as clean-cut and businesslike, while moderates see
him as a problem solver. Liberals see him as a man from a multicul-
tural background who breaks down racial and other barriers.45
Andrew Sullivan, in his article that appeared in the December 2007

edition of The Atlantic, wrote, ‘‘Obama is the only candidate who can
take America—finally—past the debilitating, self-perpetuating family
quarrel of the Baby Boom generation.’’ Barack said, ‘‘When I think of
Baby Boomers, I think of my mother’s generation. And I was too young
for the formative period of the ‘60s—civil rights, sexual revolution,
Vietnam War. Those all sort of passed me by.’’46
I think that there’s the possibility—not the certainty, but the possibil-
ity—that I can’t just win an election but can also transform the
country in the process, that the language and the approach I take to
politics is sufficiently different that I could bring diverse parts of this
country together in a way that hasn’t been done in some time, and
that bridging those divisions is a critical element in solving problems
like health care or energy or education.47
Writer Larissa MacFarquhar, wrote in The New Yorker, ‘‘He has

staked his candidacy on union—on bringing together two halves of
America that are profoundly divided, and by associating himself with
Lincoln—and he knows what both of those things mean.’’48
Barack was in a feisty, even peevish mood one day when he pushed
back against the idea that he was all style and no substance. He told the
reporters,
The fact of the matter is, I have the most specific plan in terms of
how to get out of Iraq of any candidate. I have delivered speeches
over the course of the two years, before I started running for presi-
dent, on every major issue out there, whether it’s education, health
care, or energy. I’ve written two books that have sold close to a mil-
lion copies each that probably give people more insight into how I
think and how I feel about the issues facing America than any
candidate who’s run for office in recent memory. The problem is not
that the information is not out there. The problem is that that’s not
what you guys have been reporting on. You’ve been reporting on
how I look in a swimsuit.49
Oprah Winfrey said the following:
Experience in the hallways of government isn’t as important to me as

experience on the pathway of life. I challenge you to see through
those people who try and convince you that experience with politics
as usual is more valuable than wisdom won from years of service
people outside the walls of Washington, D.C. … What we need is,
we need a new way of doing business in Washington, D.C. and in
the world. You know, I am so tired. I’m tired of politics as usual.
That’s why you seldom see politicians on my show—because I only
have an hour.… We the people can see through all that rhetoric. We
recognize that the amount of time that you’ve spent in Washington
means nothing unless you’re accountable for the judgments you made
with the time you had. We need good judgment. We need Barack
Obama.50
Oprah Winfrey has also said,
[F]or the very first time in my life I feel compelled to stand up and
speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America.
Over the years, I have voted for as many Republicans as I have Dem-
ocrats. This isn’t about partisanship for me. This is very, very per-
sonal. I’m here because of my personal conviction about Barack
Obama and what I know he can do for America.51
Barack said the following after his victory in the Iowa Caucus:
They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set
too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned.
But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you
have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do. We are one nation.
We are one people and our time for change has come. In New
Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight,
then I will be that president for America.52
An Iowa Caucus voter said on January 4, 2008, ‘‘Obama has tremen-

dous passion. I think a lot of Democrats are desperate for that.’’53
The day after the Iowa Caucus victory, David Brooks, columnist for the
New York Times, wrote, ‘‘Americans are going to feel good about the
Obama victory, which is a story of youth, possibility and unity through
diversity.… Obama has achieved something remarkable.… Obama is
changing the tone of American liberalism, and maybe American politics,
too.’’54 After the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the Econo-
mist said,
Mr. Obama has demonstrated a unique ability to invoke passion

among his supporters. This is partly because at his best he may be the
finest public speaker of his generation: a man who echoes John Ken-
nedy and Martha Luther King but nevertheless speaks in a voice that is
all his own. It is not just that he says it well: it is also what he says.55
After Barack lost the New Hampshire Primary, he conceded the race
to Senator Clinton and in his speech he had a new slogan: ‘‘Yes we
can!’’ He told his supporters the following:
A few weeks ago, no one imagined that we’d have accomplished what
we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind,
and we always knew our climb would be steep. But in record num-
bers, you came out and spoke up for change … there is something
happening in America … when Americans who are young in age and
in spirit—who have never before participated in politics—turn out
in numbers we’ve never seen because they know in their hearts that
this time must be different … when people vote not just for the
party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common. All of the
candidates in this race share these goals. All have good ideas. And all
are patriots who serve this country honorably. But the reason our
campaign has always been different is because it’s not just about what
I will do as President, it’s also about what you, the people who love
this country, can do to change it. That’s why tonight belongs to you.
It belongs to the organizers and the volunteers and the staff who
believed in our improbable journey and rallied so many others to
join. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been
anything false about hope.… Yes we can … yes we can to justice and
equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal

this nation. Yes we can repair this world. Yes we can.56
Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy endorsed Barack in Febru-

ary 2008. He said,
There’s no question that he has tapped into something. I don’t think

there’s any question that it’s a phenomenon and it is broadening. But
I’m mindful that crowds don’t always turn into votes. These cam-
paigns go through different transitions. He has a very engaging kind
of charm, and that is going to become stronger and stronger as he
gets known.57
On February 9, 2008, the United Kingdom-based The Economist

magazine noted, ‘‘Mr. Obama is the most inspiring American politician
for a generation.… Mr. Obama’s supporters want a president who can
inspire Americans to be their better selves.’’58
In 1980, so called Reagan Democrats played a key role in electing a
new president. In 2007, Obama Republicans seemed to be emerging as
a significant political force, at least in the early primaries. One Republi-
can, a twenty-eight-year-old who voted for Bush twice, said, ‘‘I’m a
conservative but I have gay friends.… I don’t feel like Obama is con-
demning me for being a Republican.’’ A former marine and self-
described lifelong Republican said, ‘‘The Republican Party has become
so ugly and so arrogant, I don’t want to have any part of it.’’ Barack
talked about his Republican supporters, saying ‘‘They whisper to me.
They say, ‘Barack, I’m a Republican, but I support you.’ And I say,
‘Thank you. Why are we whispering?’ ’’59
In an interview with Newsweek magazine in February 2008, Barack
was asked, ‘‘Isn’t it accurate for a fair-minded observer to say Hillary
would be more ready on day one?’’ Barack responded,
No. The question isn’t who’s ready on day one, but who’s right on
day one. A mythology has been created that somehow just by being
there for eight years [in the White House as First Lady], she is going
to be better prepared, better organized and exercise better judgment.
But I would put my judgments on foreign policy next to hers over
the last four years on Iraq, on Iran, on how would she conduct diplo-
macy, on Pakistan. I would argue that reflects readiness, not the fact
that you sat in the White House or that you traveled to 82

countries.60
Speaking about his opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton, Barack said,
She’s made the argument that she’s thoroughly vetted, in contrast to

me. I think it’s important to examine that argument because if the
suggestion is somehow that on issues of ethics or disclosure or trans-
parency that she’s going to have a better record than I have and will
be better able to withstand Republican attacks, I think that’s an issue
that should be tested.
Barack responded to Senator Clinton’s claim she is better prepared to

protect the nation and her touting of her experience on foreign policy
with the following:
It’s important to examine that claim and not just allow her to assert
it, which I think has been going on for quite some time. What
exactly is this foreign experience that she’s claiming? I know she talks
about visiting 80 countries. It is not clear, was she negotiating treaties
or agreements, or was she handling crises during this period of time?
My sense is the answer’s no. I have not seen any evidence that she is
better equipped to handle a crisis. If the only criteria is longevity in
Washington, then she’s certainly not going to compete with John
McCain on that.61
On the question of a ‘‘Dream Ticket’’ with Barack as the vice presi-

dent and Senator Hillary Clinton as the president, Barack said the
following:
With all respect, I won twice as many states as Senator Clinton. I

won more of the popular vote than Senator Clinton. I won more del-
egates than Senator Clinton. So I do not know how someone who is
in second place is offering the vice presidency to someone who is in
first place … [and] how it is if I’m not ready, how you think I can be
such a great vice-president.… I am not running for vice-president,
I’m running for President of the United States of America. I’m run-
ning to be commander-in-chief. The reason I’m running to be
commander-in-chief is because I believe that the most important
thing when you answer that phone call at 3:00 AM is what kind of
judgment you have.62
Suggesting Barack should become his wife’s running mate, President

Bill Clinton said,
I know that she has always been open to it, because she believes that
if you can unite the energy and the new people that he’s brought in
and the people in these vast swathes of small-town and rural America
that she’s carried overwhelmingly, if you had those two things
together she thinks it’d be hard to beat.63
An Ohio supporter said on March 12, 2008,
I’m praying that he wins, I really am. This country is ready for
change, but it’s not just him. The president can only do so much.
He’s got to surround himself with qualified people, and the citizens
have to work, too.64
At first stating that he would remain neutral in the campaign, Sena-

tor Bob Casey of Pennsylvania later endorsed Barack in March 2008, in
part to broker reconciliation between Barack and Hillary Clinton. He
said,
I believe in my heart that there is one person who’s uniquely quali-

fied to lead us in that new direction and that is Barack Obama. I
really believe that in a time of danger around the world and in divi-
sion here at home, Barack Obama can lead us, he can heal us, he can
help rebuild America … for a long time, I was not only neutral, I
was undecided, an undecided voter. I know a lot about campaigns
and a lot about our state, I think it’s very important that I make the
decision public. A campaign can test someone; he’s been tested. He’s
appealed to the better angels of our nature under very difficult
circumstances.65
Margaret Campbell, a Montana state legislator, declared her support

of Barack in April 2008. She said, ‘‘Senator Obama reminds me of why
I’m a Democrat. I think he can win a general election. He gives me that
belief that America can be united.66
As Barack’s supporters continued to drum up support, they said they

were hearing the persistent rumor that Barack was a Muslim and ques-
tions about his patriotism. Barack responded,
It frustrates me that people would even have a question about some-

thing like that, because they don’t ask the same questions of some
of the other candidates. If they don’t vote for me, it should be because
they think Senator Clinton or Senator McCain have better ideas. It
shouldn’t be because they think I am less patriotic or because they
question what my religious faith is.67
In May 2008, prior to the Indiana Primary, Barack changed tactics.

Instead of speaking at large rallies and arenas, he moved around the
state, speaking at diners, retirement homes, and to smaller groups.
‘‘What I want to do is spend more time listening than talking. It’s been
wonderful to see these big crowds, but the problem is you don’t really
learn much when you’re listening to yourself talk.’’ At such a gathering,
Barack responded to a question: ‘‘You want to know my values? Let me
tell you about my family.’’ Barack responded to continuing questions
about who he really is with the following:
Because we’ve been so successful, that’s why my opponents have been

trying to make this election about me lately. ‘‘We’re not sure he shares
our values. We haven’t seen him wear a flag pin lately. He’s got a funny
name. He says he’s Christian, but we don’t know. His former pastor
said some terrible things and so, can we really trust this guy?’’ 68
The small audience replied, ‘‘Yes!’’ At a campaign stop, a man asked

about trade and then added, ‘‘I’ve been reading on the Internet that
you believe as an American we should not have to pledge allegiance to
the flag. Is that true?’’ Barack responded,
It is not. That is completely bogus. These emails have been sent

around in each state I’m about to go into. It’s a smear campaign
they’ve been running since the beginning of the campaign. I lead the
Pledge of Allegiance when I’m presiding in the Senate.
An eighty-seven-year-old woman at a retirement center said she felt

questions about Barack’s religion, patriotism, and values were an excuse,
adding, ‘‘I think there’s a certain percentage of people who won’t vote
for him because he’s black, and I think that’s a shame.… I’m leaning
toward him. How could you not?’’69
Barack has said,
I look forward as president to going before the world community

and saying, ‘‘America is back. We’re ready to lead.… ’’ Because if you
elect me, you will have elected a president who has taught the Con-
stitution, who believes in the Constitution, and who will restore and
obey the Constitution of the United States of America.70
On May 14, 2008, former presidential candidate Senator John

Edwards endorsed Barack. He said,
The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America

have made their choice and so have I. There is one man who knows
in his heart that it is time to create one America—not two—and that
man is Barack Obama.71
On May 19, 2008, West Virginia’s Senator Robert Byrd announced

his endorsement for Barack. He said,
After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situa-
tion in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Demo-
cratic National Convention, I will cast my vote for Senator Barack
Obama for President. Both Senators Clinton and Obama are extraor-
dinary individuals, who integrity, honor, love for this country and
strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect. I believe Barack
Obama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal
temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from
this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this chal-
lenging time in history. Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and
humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support.72
Michael Gerson wrote in the Washington Post,
Obama is a serious, thoughtful, decent adult who will attract the

sympathy of other serious, thoughtful decent adults. He has evident
flaws, but the inspiration he evokes is genuine. His policy views are
conventionally liberal, but his story is not a scam. And, in some

ways, his election would finally make sense of an American story that
includes Antietam and Selma.73
One group of voters who were unsure of Barack and his campaign
were some Jewish voters. Speaking before a group of Jewish voters in
Florida on May 23, 2008, Barack said,
The bottom line is this. Nobody can find any statement that I have
ever made that is anything less than unequivocally pro-Israel, that
says Israel’s security is paramount. There is not a single trace of me
ever being anything more than a friend of Israel and a friend of the
Jewish people. This is part, I think, of the tradition of the Jewish
people is to judge me by what I say and what I have done. Don’t
judge me because I have a funny name. Don’t judge me because I am
an African-American. People are concerned about memories of the
past … that is exactly what I am fighting in the African-American
community when I hear anti-Semitic statements. We are bigger than
that. If my policies are wrong, then vote against me because my poli-
cies are wrong. If I am not honest, if I am not truthful, don’t vote
for me for that reason. But don’t vote against me because of who I
am, and I know you won’t.74
What would the first hundred days of an Obama administration

look like? Barack responded to that question with the following:
Step number one is moving to end this war in Iraq … step two
would be to put forth a bold plan for universal health care … the
third is energy independence … if we take these steps then I’m confi-
dent that we can get this country back on track.75
In an article that appeared in The New American, author Gregory

Hession described Barack as a ‘‘Man of the Government.’’ The article
points out that most everyone looks at the government in one of two
ways: one group wants government to do something for them, whereas
the other group seeks either to have government stop doing something
to them or taking something from them. Barack, the article notes, came
from political obscurity and wants to be the next president so he can
run the government and asks what he believes and what are his core
values. From his two books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My
Father, there is insight that answers these questions. Before and during
his presidential bid, Barack has provided a reliable record of his beliefs
and their historical development. Barack said, ‘‘My job is to inspire
people to take ownership of this country. Politics is not a business. It’s a
mission. It’s about making people’s lives better.’’ Barack is a man of the
government. By taking, ‘‘ownership of this country,’’ he does not mean
limiting government to its constitutional size so that people can take care
of themselves and manage their own lives; he means instead empowering
government to manage the economy and provide for the people, thereby
(in his view), ‘‘making people’s lives better.’’76
The Concerns and Criticisms of Barack
Obama and His Campaign
for the Presidency
I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the

walk.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., on
Barack Obama, predicting his victory in November.77
A New York Times article in March 2004 was titled ‘‘As Quickly as
Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born.’’ The article was written just
after his successful bid for the U.S. Senate, a race he was expected to
lose but instead won overwhelmingly. Prior to this win and prior to his
speech at the Democratic National Convention, Barack had drawn little
notice outside of his home state of Illinois. As quickly as nearly over-
night, it seemed, Barack found himself on covers of magazines, the sub-
ject of countless articles around the country, and was constantly sought
out for interviews and appearances. Before he had even been sworn in
as the junior senator from Illinois, the rumors caught fire of whether he
would run for president in 2012. It was not long before there was spec-
ulation that he would run in the 2008 election and the questions
included: Was he electable? Was it his time? Was it too soon? Was he
experienced enough? Would American voters elect an African American
as president? Would women vote for Barack, or would they vote for
Senator Clinton? Could he unite a divided country? Many asked, who
is this tall, lanky man from Illinois that became only the third black
American to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction? Why is
he so popular? Are the huge crowds to see a man who became as popular
as some rock stars real? Are the people attending the rallies there to listen
and do they really believe in his message of hope and change? Is he too
liberal? Is he an elitist and can he identify with the middle class? Why
isn’t he wearing a flag pin on his lapel? Does he really refuse to say the
Pledge of Allegiance? Was his hand on a Koran and not a Bible at his
swearing in ceremony? Is he a Muslim or a Christian? Are terrorists really
endorsing him? Is he patriotic, or not? Does he love his country and is he
really of mixed race heritage? Is he black enough? What about his elect-
ability? These questions, and many more, swirled about Barack through-
out his campaign and he found himself deflecting the criticisms,
explaining his views, and denouncing his pastor, and eventually leaving
his home church. Still, he stayed with his message and never lost his cool.
On Race, on His Electability,
and the Electorate
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune in June 2005, Barack was

asked if America was ready for a black president and Barack answered:
‘‘Yea, I think an African-American candidate, if he’s the best candidate,
can be president.’’78
Jonathan Alter, writer for Newsweek, wrote an article entitled ‘‘Is
America Ready?’’ in December 2006. Alter notes that Barack says the
American people are looking for something new, but Alter asks, how
new? For 220 years, he writes, Americans have elected only white male
Christians with no hint of ethnicity to the White House. He also dis-
cussed the prospect of electing the first woman as president and wrote
that although no analysts say electing a woman president is impossible,
some still make that case about a black candidate. Lawrence Otis
Graham, an African American author, is quoted in the article:
There’s a willingness to be entertained by African-Americans, but to

be governed by them is a completely different story. White men have
socialized and worked under women, but much more rarely under
blacks. Whatever they say, when they go in the polling place, they
won’t go for it.
Alter wrote that Barack has no military service to deepen his connection
to core American values; he also suggested that Barack’s biggest chal-
lenge might be meeting such high expectations, and that some Demo-
crats may be disappointed. When he gives a speech that is policy-heavy
and lower in key in his rhetoric, some in the audience expect the (2004
Democratic) convention style oratory and may leave underwhelmed.79
In the same issue of Newsweek, Jonathan Alter interviewed Barack.
Noting that there have been two African American governors and three
senators since Reconstruction, he asked if America ready for a black or
a woman president? Barack answered,
I absolutely think America is ready for either. Stereotypes and preju-

dices still exist in American society … but what I’ve found is that the
American people—once they get to know you—are going to judge
you on your individual character.80
In an interview with Steve Kroft on CBS’s 60 Minutes in February

2007, Kroft asked if Barack was surprised and disappointed with Sena-
tor Clinton’s lead among African American voters. Barack answered,
I think there is an assumption on the part of some commentators

that somehow, the black community is so unsophisticated that the
minute you put an African-American face up on the screen, that they
automatically say, ‘‘That’s our guy.’’ A black candidate has to earn
black votes the same way that he’s gotta earn white votes. And—and
that’s exactly how it should be.81
The July 16, 2007 issue of Newsweek’s cover story was ‘‘Black and
White, How Barack Obama Is Shaking Up Old Assumptions.’’ The
magazine’s article, ‘‘Across the Divide,’’ noted one measure of Barack’s
broad support is his extraordinary fundraising. More than 150,000
donors gave $31 million for his primary campaign in the second quar-
ter (2007), roughly $10 million more than Senator Clinton and far
Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama shakes hands after

appearing with Senator Hillary Clinton, Democrat of New York, in Unity,
New Hampshire on June 27, 2008, during their first joint public appearance
since the divisive Democratic primary race ended. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
ahead of anyone else in either party. According to Newsweek, polls sug-

gested that race is no longer the barrier it once was to electing a presi-
dent. A clear majority—59 percent—said the country is ready to elect
an African American president, up from 37 percent at the start of the
decade; it still indicates that a significant percentage of the country is
either skeptical or prejudiced. The article notes that Barack faced many
challenges in what he calls his ‘‘improbable candidacy,’’ but few are as
complex or emotional as race, with racial politics a key source of his
campaign’s energy, and possibly his undoing. The question asked was
could Barack appeal to both black and white, while still being true to
himself ?82
Drawing a sharp contrast with his rival, Senator Clinton, Barack said
in August 2007 that he has the capacity she may lack to unify the
country and move it out of what he called an ‘‘ideological gridlock.’’

Barack said, ‘‘I think it is fair to say that I believe I can bring the
country together more effectively than she can … if I didn’t believe
that, I wouldn’t be running.’’ Barack defended himself against criticisms
from Hillary Clinton and other Democratic rivals with a series of state-
ments on foreign policy and argued that her foreign policy views risked
continued international perceptions of U.S. arrogance.
Her argument is going to be that ‘‘I’m the experienced Washington

hand,’’ and my argument is going to be that we need to change the
ways of Washington. That’s going to be a good choice for the Ameri-
can people.… I don’t think there is anybody in this race who’s able
to bring new people into the process and break out of some of the
ideological gridlock that we have as effectively as I can.
Barack conceded that because many Democrats do not know him as

well as they know Clinton, and that she was drawing more support
nationally. ‘‘We’ve got to really fill in the blanks with folks, and that’s
going to be the challenge.83
From the beginning of the campaign season, from the first caucus in
Iowa that Barack won handily, to the first primary in New Hampshire
in which Hillary Clinton won with 39 percent of the vote to Barack’s
36 percent, there were questions about how the voters would cast their
ballots. It was more than voting for the first woman candidate and the
first African American candidate. There were also other variations of
voters including income, class, ethnicity, and geographical differences.
By mid-February 2008, Barack emerged as the leader in the pledged
delegates and it appeared that it would be difficult for Hillary Clinton
to achieve the required number of delegates to surpass him with the
remaining primary and caucuses through June. However, it also
appeared that neither candidate would have the required number of
pledged delegates needed to claim the nomination by the time voting
would end with the last primary scheduled for June 7, 2008. Questions
were emerging about how voters would cast their vote and whether Bar-
ack could appeal to blue-collar workers, the middle class, Hispanics,
women, and seniors. Polls showed Hillary fared better within these
voter categories, and Barack did well with African Americans, younger
voters, and upper-income voters. Both candidates were showing
strength in every region of the country. No one disputed the fact that
more voters were casting ballots than ever before and Democrats were
enjoying an energized electorate and donations were flowing into both
campaigns in record numbers. From the first contests, it appeared that
it would be a state-by-state battle until the very end of the campaign
season.
By March 2008, political pundits were questioning why Barack
couldn’t ‘‘close the deal’’ with his lead in pledged delegates and his mas-
sive fundraising. Barack lost in the Ohio and Texas primaries to Clin-
ton, after appearing nearly invincible the week before. He faced
questions about his toughness and his vulnerabilities, although he was
still attracting huge crowds at his speeches and enjoying record-setting
fundraising. Despite the crowds and donations to his campaign, polls
showed he was having difficulty attracting working-class and middle-
class support. Barack noted,
I don’t buy into this demographic argument. In Missouri, Wisconsin,

Virginia, and many of these states, we’ve won the white vote and the
blue-collar voters. I think it is very important not to somehow focus
on a handful of states because the Clintons say that those states are
important and the other states are unimportant.84
The question was then asked if Barack was ready to be president and if
he had passed the ‘‘commander-in-chief test.’’ A spokesman for the
Clinton campaign suggested that Barack was not ready to be president,
and that despite Barack’s lead in the delegate count and primary and
caucus wins thus far, he should consider being vice president to Hill-
ary’s presidency. Barack noted in a speech in Mississippi on March 11,
2008, on the day of that state’s primary, that he had won more dele-
gates, more of the popular vote, had won twice as many states as
Hillary, and said he didn’t understand, ‘‘how it is if I’m not ready, how
do you think I can be such a great vice-president?’’85
With the campaign looking as if it would go on until the last
primary in early June 2008, both candidates looked to define what it
meant to be winning. Barack emphasized the breadth of his appeal with
his lead in the popular vote and pledged delegates and victories in states
that Democrats had trouble carrying in prior elections. Hillary focused
on her victories in states with the highest number of electoral votes, like
Ohio and California, and her strength among women, blue-collar

workers, and Hispanics. Hillary lost in the Mississippi Primary, stating
it was because half of the voters in the primary were black. In that state,
nine in ten blacks voted for Barack and 40% of voters told pollsters
that race was a factor in their decision. Adding fuel to the criticisms,
the questions about both campaigns, and to the question of race and
whether whites would vote for Barack, Geraldine A. Ferraro, the former
New York representative and a Clinton supporter, suggested that Bar-
ack’s success was in part due to his race. She told the California paper,
Daily Breeze, ‘‘If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this
position.’’ Barack stated he was outraged at the remark. Ms. Ferraro
resigned from her capacity as a fundraiser for the Clinton campaign;
however, she continued to stand by her statement. The March 15,
2008 issue of The Economist noted that Barack had won a majority of
white votes in states with different demographics such as Virginia, New
Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, Utah, and in Wyoming, where 90 percent
of the population is white.86
On April 6, 2008, at a fundraiser in San Francisco, California, Bar-
ack made comments that set off a political firestorm. Trying to explain
his troubles at winning over some working-class voters, Barack said that
many of these voters had become frustrated with economic conditions.
He said, ‘‘It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or
religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant
sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.’’
His comments were posted on The Huffington Post website and subse-
quently set off a blast of criticism from the Clinton campaign, as well
as from John McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee. Barack’s
campaign scrambled to diffuse the fall out from his remarks and he
tried to apologize by saying he worded things in a way that offended
people and he deeply regretted it. The Clinton campaign noted that
Barack’s remarks showed he was an elitist, charges that had been previ-
ously leveled against Barack, and that he was arrogant and out of touch
with voters, especially in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
On a campaign stop in Muncie, Indiana prior to the Indiana Primary,
Barack said there had been a flare up because of something he said that
everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of

folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana,
in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter. They are angry. They feel
like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying
attention to what they’re going through. So I said … when you’re
bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about
guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their
community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are
coming over to this country.
Hillary Clinton responded: ‘‘People don’t need a president who looks

down on them. They need a president who stands up for them.’’87
On April 19, 2008, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich became
the fifth former Clinton cabinet member to endorse Barack, saying that
loyalty to his old friends, the Clintons, had been overwhelmed by
unhappiness with the tone of the Clinton campaign.
I did not plan to endorse. I wanted to stay out of the whole endorse-
ment racket. But my conscience wouldn’t let me stay silent after this
latest round of mudslinging. When millions of Americans are losing
their homes and jobs, when the economy is facing its worst crisis in
60 years, when the Iraq war is still causing chaos in the Middle East,
to focus on whether Obama should have used the word ‘‘bitter’’
when he talked about the plight of many in Pennsylvania, and to res-
urrect the old Republican themes of guns and religion, and to call
Obama ‘‘elitist’’… just put me over the edge.88
A continuing controversy that seemed to surround Barack during the

campaign was the fact that he did not wear a flag pin on his suit lapel.
To some, by not wearing the symbol, it meant he was unpatriotic and
led to the question of whether Barack loved America. Early on in the
campaign, he told an audience in Iowa,
My attitude is that I’m less concerned about what you’re wearing on

your lapel than what’s in your heart. You show your patriotism by
how you treat your fellow Americans, especially those who served.
You show your patriotism by being true to our values and our ideals.
The controversy seemed to die down for a while, until Barack started
winning more nominating contests. Then it dogged him again in Ohio,
Texas, Pennsylvania, and in Indiana. In May 2008, Barack called it a
‘‘phony issue’’ and that he was not opposed to wearing flag pins. ‘‘It
was a commentary on our politicians and folks in Washington who
sometimes are very good about saluting our soldiers when they come
home, but then don’t follow up with budgets that make sure they’re
getting treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.’’89
On His Ex perience and the Issues
In a debate of presidential candidates, Barack said he was willing to

meet with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il, and Hugo Chavez separately and
without preconditions during his first year as president. A few months
later, he was asked on NBC’s Meet the Press if he stood by his answer
and he said that he did.
I did not say that I would be meeting with all of them. I said I’d be
willing to. Obviously there is a difference between preconditions
and preparation. Preconditions, which was what the question was
in that debate, means that we won’t meet with people unless they’ve
already agreed to the very things that we expect to be meeting with
them about.
When he was asked about being used in a propaganda way, Barack

said, ‘‘Strong countries and strong presidents speak with their adversa-
ries. I always think back to JFK’s saying that we should never negotiate
out of fear, but we shouldn’t fear to negotiate.’’90
In an article entitled ‘‘The Obama Factor,’’ James Pindell, who cov-
ers presidential primary politics for the Boston Globe, wrote in Decem-
ber 2006, ‘‘He has zero credentials on foreign policy, one of the most
important issues in 2008. And he is relatively untested as a candidate
and an executive.’’91
Barack discussed the question of his experience in December 2006.
I think that experience question would be answered during the course

of the campaign. Either at the end of that campaign, people would
say, ‘‘He looked good on paper but the guy was kind of way too
green’’ or at the end of the campaign they say, ‘‘He’s run a really
strong campaign and we think he’s got something to say and we
think he could lead us.’’92
According to The Economist magazine in June 2007,
An Obama presidency would carry great symbolic weight … would

signal to many, in and outside America, that the American dream
still works. His opposition to the two policies that have hurt
America’s image most—invading Iraq and making use of torture—
will convince many that he represents a fresh start. But his inexper-
ience is worrisome, and the source of Mrs. Clinton’s greatest
advantage over him. He is decent, intelligent and a good listener. But
as George Will, a conservative columnist, put it, he is asking Ameri-
cans to ‘‘treat the presidency as a nearly entry-level political office.’’
Mr. Obama once cruelly pointed out that experience is what Dick
Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have plenty of. Yet it still counts for
something, after all.93
At just forty-six years old and three years out of the Illinois legisla-
ture, as the freshman senator from Illinois, Barack understood that the
clock was ticking on his chance to convince voters that he is ready for
the White House. ‘‘The challenge for us is to let people know what I’ve
accomplished at a time when the campaign schedule is getting so com-
pressed. I just don’t have much time to make that case.’’ He promised
to bring change to a political system that most voters think is broken:
People have to feel comfortable that, ‘‘You know what? This guy can
handle the job.’’ It’s a stretch for them because I haven’t been on the
national scene for long and haven’t gone through the conventional
paths that we traditionally draw for our president.… I think it’s fair
that I’ve got to earn the confidence of the electorate. What we’ve
tried to do over the course of the last six months is make the case for
change. The next four or five or six months will involve me making
the case that not only am I the most effective change agent but I’m
also equipped with the experience and judgment to be the next
commander in chief.94
In October 2007, Barack was still lagging behind Hillary Clinton in

the polls, despite raising money faster than any other Democrat, despite
being a fresh, attractive face and an inspirational message; his candidacy
seemed to be idling. Part of the problem, according to Karen Tumulty
of Time, was his low-key speaking delivery. Said one advisor of a rival
campaign, ‘‘His style is so cerebral and so cool that it just doesn’t appeal
to a wide segment of the Democratic Party. They want to like him, but
he just isn’t connecting with them.’’ An unaffiliated campaign strategist
said, ‘‘His is a subtle and nuanced campaign, and this is not a subtle
and nuanced business.’’95
The December 15, 2007 The Economist asked the question of
whether hope could triumph over experience:
He [Barack] has always been the candidate of ‘‘hope.’’ As America’s

first black president, he would show a new face to the world.… He
appeals to Republican voters far more than other Democrats.… A
President Obama would turn preconceptions upside down: indeed he
might be able to achieve far more both at home and abroad than any
other candidate. But hope does not balance budgets, craft alliances or
reform schools. It certainly does not prove that Mr. Obama would be
the best, or even a good, president. Mr. Obama cannot change his
experience deficit; but he can change his substance deficit.… Offer-
ing America a chance to heal its divisions is a powerful selling point
… but it is not enough. Mr. Obama still needs to do more to show
how he defines change, as opposed just to personifying it.96
President Bill Clinton told Charlie Rose on The Charlie Rose Show,
that picking Obama ‘‘is a roll of the dice’’ and that sometimes Barack
seems more concerned with process than results.97
On His Faith and the Reverend
Jeremiah Wright
In early March 2007, a month after his announcement to run for the
presidency, Barack attended a celebration to honor the long service of
Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. as the pastor of the Trinity United
Church of Christ. As a presidential candidate, he certainly stood out in
the crowd to honor the man he said led him from skeptic to self-
described Christian twenty years before. Few in the crowd understood
the pressures that Barack’s presidential run was placing on his relation-
ship with the pastor. The Reverend’s assertions of widespread white
racism and his remarks about the government have drawn criticism,
and those assertions and remarks caused the cancellation of the Rever-
end’s invocation at Barack’s February announcement to run for presi-
dent. When questioned about his decision not to have the Reverend
speak in Springfield that day, Barack said in April 2007 that he was
only shielding his pastor from the spotlight and that he respected Rev-
erend Wright’s work for the poor and his fight against injustice, adding
that he and Wright did not agree on everything and that he’d never had
a thorough conversation with him about all aspects of politics.
Barack’s pastor and his association with him and the church became
a lightning rod during Barack’s campaign. It became known that on the
Sunday after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Wright said the
attacks were a consequence of violent American politics. Four years
later, he wrote that the attacks had proved that ‘‘people of color had
not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the
Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns.’’
Michael Cromartie, vice president of Ethics and Public Policy Center, a
group that studies religious issues and public policy, said such state-
ments involved ‘‘a certain deeply embedded anti-Americanism. A lot of
people are going to say to Mr. Obama, are those your views?’’ Barack
said they were not, ‘‘The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without
justification,’’ and added that he was not at the Trinity church the day
Wright delivered his remarks.
Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself

in that language of concern with institutional racism and the strug-
gles the African-American community has gone through. He analyzes
public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through
the context of social justice and inequality.
When asked about the cancellation of the invocation in February,

Wright said he has long prided himself on criticizing the establishment,
and said he knew he might not play well in Barack’s audition for the
ultimate establishment job. He said, ‘‘If Barack gets past the primary,
he might have to publicly distance himself from me. I said it to Barack
personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.’’98
The issue of Barack’s pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright came up
again and again during the campaign. His fiery, divisive remarks made
during his sermons at Barack’s home church appeared on YouTube and

caused such a sensation that the story was picked up and reported on
by the mainstream news and was part of the news cycles for days on
end. Barack found himself having to deflect comments about his associ-
ation with the pastor’s fiery rhetoric and being a member of the church
for more than twenty years. The question was asked if Barack heard the
sermons, why had he not denounced them or walked out of the church
during the sermons, and if he disagreed with the expressed sentiment
and why would he not denounce the pastor. Barack struggled to dis-
tance himself from Wright for nearly a week after the comments sur-
faced that characterized the United States as fundamentally racist and
the government as corrupt and murderous.
On March 18, 2008, Barack made a speech at the National Consti-
tution Center in Philadelphia, a building steeped in the nation’s historic
symbolism. The speech was described as a sweeping assessment of race
in America and some likened its importance to that of Martin Luther
King’s ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. Barack declared in the speech that it
was time for America to move beyond some of the old racial wounds:
It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the
claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been so
na€ıve as to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a
single election cycle, or with a single candidacy—particularly a candi-
dacy as imperfect as my own.
The speech was one of the most extensive of Barack’s presidential cam-
paign devoted to race and unity and what some declared was one of the
biggest tests of his candidacy. Barack disavowed the remarks by his pas-
tor as ‘‘not only wrong, but divisive, divisive at a time when we need
unity.’’ He did not, however, wholly distance himself from his pastor or
the church. He said,
I can no more disown him than I disown the black community. I

can no more disown him than I can disown my white grand-
mother—a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed
again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves
anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of
black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than
one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me

cringe.
Standing against a backdrop of American flags, Barack described his

association with the church and the pastor:
For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occa-

sionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of
course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered
controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with
many of his political views? Absolutely—just as I’m sure many of
you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with
which you strongly disagreed.
Speaking for nearly forty-five minutes, Barack continued to say that

race is an issue he believed the nation cannot afford to ignore and that
the safe thing would be to move on and hope that the issue faded. He
said he has seen how people in America were hoping for a message of
unity and that despite the temptation to view his candidacy through a
purely racial lens, he reminded everyone of his victories in states with
some of the whitest populations in the country. Barack added,
The comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced
over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country
that we’ve never really worked through—a part of our union that we
have not yet made perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply
retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come
together and solve challenges like health care, or education or the
need to find good jobs for every American.99
At the end of the speech, Barack said,
We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day

and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only
question in this campaign whether or not the American people think
that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words …
we can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election,
we’ll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one …
and nothing will change. That is one option. Or, at this moment, in
this election, we can come together and say, ‘‘Not this time.…’’ I
would not be running for President if I didn’t believe with all my
heart that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this
country. This union may never be perfect, but generation after gener-
ation has shown that it can always be perfected. And today, whenever
I find myself feeling doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what
gives me the most hope is the next generation—the young people
who attitudes and beliefs and openness to change have already made
history in this election.100
Joe Klein, columnist for Time, wrote about the speech:
The rhetorical magic of the speech—what made it extraordinary—was

that it was, at once, both unequivocal and healing.… Obama was
unequivocal in his candor about black anger and white resentment—
sentiments that few mainstream politicians acknowledge.… It was a
grand demonstration of the largely unfulfilled promise of Obama’s
candidacy: the possibility that, given his eloquence and intelligence, he
will be able to create a new sense of national unity—not by smoothing
over problems but by confronting them candidly and with civility.101
Klein noted that most Americans would hear the speech in sound bytes
and from headlines and from that would only hear that Barack had
refused to denounce or disavow his pastor and the Wright controversy
was the third many had heard about Barack and candidacy, with the
first him being black and the second, that he had a ‘‘funny’’ name. He
suggested that too many voters do not go beyond their first impressions
and noted that this is the challenge for 2008, whether the election will
be a big one or small one, whether there will be serious conversations
about the enormous problems facing the country—the wars, the econ-
omy, the environment—or would there be only the sound bites as in
past elections, where cynicism passes for insight.
On April 29, 2008, showing more emotion than was typical for
him, Barack held a press conference to fully denounce Reverend Jere-
miah Wright after the pastor’s remarks made at a National Press Club
speech on April 28. In addition to defending his plea that ‘‘God damn
America,’’ Reverend Wright also made accusations that the U.S. govern-
ment had unleashed HIV/AIDS on the African American community
and engaged in ‘‘terrorism’’ overseas. Barack said,
I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over

the spectacle that we saw yesterday. I have been a member of Trinity
United Church of Christ since 1992. I have known Reverend Wright
for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday wasn’t the person
that I met 20 years ago. The comments weren’t only divisive and
destructive. I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who
prey on hate. I believe they don’t portray accurately the perspective
of the black church. They certainly don’t portray accurately my values
and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that is political posturing,
as he put it, then he doesn’t know me very well. And based on his
remarks yesterday, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.
Barack said what had become clear to him was more than Wright
defending himself, but what he said presented a worldview that contra-
dicts what Barack stood for. Barack suggested he was considering leav-
ing the church, but had yet to speak to the pastor of the church,
Reverend Otis Moss, about his position. He said that when he goes to
church, it is not for spectacle, but rather it is to pray and find a stron-
ger sense of faith. He added it was not to posture politically and not to
hear things that violated his core beliefs.102
On May 31, 2008, Barack formally announced that he had resigned
his membership of the Trinity United Church of Christ, where he had
attended for nearly two decades, following the months of controversy
about his pastor and his political views. In a letter sent to the church and
the current pastor from both Barack and his wife Michelle, they said,
Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive state-
ments of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own
views. These controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction
for other Trinity members who seek to worship in peace, and have
placed you in an untenable position.
In a town-hall-style meeting in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Barack

sounded pained as he confirmed his decision to leave the church that
had been his spiritual home. He told the audience, ‘‘I make this deci-
sion with sadness. This is where I found Jesus Christ, where we were
married, where our children were baptized. We are proud of the extra-
ordinary works of that church.’’ Barack rejected suggestions that he also
denounce the church, stating that he was not interested in people who
wanted him to denounce it and that it was not a church worthy of

denouncing.103
NOTES
2. Amanda Griscom Little, ‘‘Barack Obama,’’ Rolling Stone, December 30, 2004, 88.
4. Evan Thomas, Holly Bailey, and Richard Wolffe ‘‘Only in America,’’ Newsweek,
May 5, 2008, 28.
W10.
6. Marc Ambinder, ‘‘Teacher and Apprentice,’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 59.
7. Ken Rudin, ‘‘Obama, or a History of Black Presidents of the U.S.,’’ National Public
Radio, December 7, 2006.
8. Marc Ambinder, ‘‘Teacher and Apprentice,’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 59.
9. Ibid., 60.
10. Gwen Ifill, ‘‘On the Road with Michelle,’’ Essence, September 2007.
11. Rudin, ‘‘Obama, or a History of Black Presidents of the U.S.’’
12. Steve Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams, the Story of Barack Obama (New York: Black
13. Byron York, ‘‘Obama Madness,’’ National Review, November 20, 2006, 17–18.
14. Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Formally Enters Presidential Race with
15. Ibid.
16. Jonathan Clayton and Nyangoma Kogela, ‘‘Favourite Son Is Already a Winner in
Kenya,’’ Times of London, February 10, 2007.
17. Ambinder, ‘‘Teacher and Apprentice,’’ 64.
18. Richard Wolffe and Even Thomas, ‘‘Sit Back, Relax, Get Ready to Rumble,’’ News-
week, May 19, 2008, 21.
19. Ambinder, ‘‘Teacher and Apprentice,’’ 64.
20. Rick Klein and Nancy Flores, ‘‘The Note: Double-Oh Show,’’ ABC News Online,
December 7, 2007, http://abcnews.com (accessed December 7, 2007).
21. ‘‘Obama’s Moment,’’ The Economist, December 1, 2007, 46.
22. Jeremy Pelofsky, ‘‘Sen. Obama Nears Clinton in Campaign Money Race,’’ Reuters,
April 4, 2007.
23. Zeleny, ‘‘The First Time Around.’’
24. Rick Pearson, ‘‘Obama on Obama,’’ Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2006, http://
www.chicagotribune.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
25. Peggy Noonan, ‘‘The Man from Nowhere,’’ Wall Street Journal, December 16,
2006, 14.
26. Karen E. Crummy, ‘‘Obama: ‘‘The Country Calls Us,’’ Denver Post, March 19,
2007, 5B.
27. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Testing the Water: Obama Tests His Own Limits,’’ New York Times,
December 24, 2006, 1.1.
2006, 24.
29. Ryan Grim, ‘‘Obama’s World,’’ The Politico, March 6, 2007, http://www.politico.
30. Bacon, Jr., ‘‘The Exquisite Dilemma of Being Obama.’’
32. Zeleny, ‘‘Testing the Water.’’
33. Barack Obama, ‘‘Interview by Steve Kroft.’’ 60 Minutes, February 11, 2007, http://
www.il.proquest.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
34. Mike Allen and Ben Smith, ‘‘Liberal Views Could Haunt Obama,’’ USA Today,
December 12, 2007, http://www.usatoday.com (accessed December 12, 2007).
35. Barack Obama, ‘‘February 12 Speech,’’ New York Times, February 12, 2008.
36. Adam Nagourney, ‘‘Surging, Obama Makes His Case,’’ New York Times, February
13, 2008.
39. Jason Szep and Ellen Wulfhorst, ‘‘Undecided Voters Give Obama Hope in 2008
Race,’’ Reuters News, November 21, 2007.
40. Jim Spencer, ‘‘Obama Needs Inspiration to Get His Optimism Across,’’ Denver
Post, March 19, 2007.
41. York, ‘‘Obama Madness,’’ 17–18.
42. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘Is America Ready?’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 28–35.
43. Ruth Marcus, ‘‘The Clintonian Candidate,’’ Washington Post, January 31, 2007, A15.
44. Kenneth T. Walsh, ‘‘Talkin’ ‘Bout My New Generation,’’ U.S. News & World Report,
January 8, 2007, 26–28.
45. Ibid.
46. Andrew Sullivan, ‘‘Goodbye to All That,’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 46, 48.
2007, A17.
48. Larissa MacFarquhar, ‘‘The Conciliator,’’ The New Yorker, May 7, 2007.
49. Lizza, ‘‘Above the Fray,’’ 337.
50. Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray, ‘‘I’m Tired of Politics as Usual,’’ Washing-
ton Post, December 9, 2007, A01.
51. Nedra Pickler, ‘‘Winfrey, Clinton Kin Draw Crowds of Iowa Women,’’ Denver Post,
December 9, 2007, 8a.
52. Jason Clayworth, ‘‘Obama Victory Speech: ‘Time for Change has Come,’ ’’ Des
Moines Register, January 4, 2008, http://www.desmoinesregister.com (accessed Janu-
ary 4, 2008).
53. Lydia Gensheimer, ‘‘Big Crowd, Big Win for Obama in Heart of Des Moines,’’ CQ
Today, January 4, 2008.
54. David Brooks, ‘‘The Two Earthquakes,’’ New York Times, January 4, 2008.
55. ‘‘Obamamania,’’ The Economist, January 12, 2008, 26.
56. Barack Obama, ‘‘Concession Speech,’’ http://thepage.time.com, January 9, 2008.
57. Adam Nagourney, ‘‘Obama Made Inroads, but Fervor Fell Short,’’ New York Times,
February 7, 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed February 7, 2008).
58. ‘‘A Fighter in Search of an Opponent,’’ The Economist, February 9, 2008, 30.
59. ‘‘Republicans for Obama,’’ The Nation, February 25, 2008, http://www.thenation.
com (accessed February 26, 2008).
60. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘Obama Plays Offense,’’ Newsweek, February 4, 2008, 32.
61. Michael Powell and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Lesson of Defeat: Obama Comes out Punching,’’
New York Times, March 6, 2008, A1.
62. Tom Baldwin and Tim Reid, ‘‘I’m Winning This Race, Barack Obama Says, So
Why Should I Be No 2?’’ Times Online, March 11, 2008, http://www.timesonline.
co.uk (accessed March 11, 2008).
63. ‘‘On the Campaign Trail, Primary Colour,’’ The Economist, March 15, 2008, 38.
64. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Wins in Mississippi,’’ New York Times, March 12, 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com (accessed March 12, 2008).
65. Katharine Q. Seelye, ‘‘The Casey Endorsement,’’ New York Times, March 28, 2008,
66. John Harwood, ‘‘In Superdelegate Count, Tough Math for Clinton,’’ New York
Times, April 7, 2008, A.18.
67. Jeff Zeleny and John M. Broder, ‘‘On Eve of Primary, Clinton Ad Invokes bin
Laden,’’ New York Times, April 22, 2008, A.23.
68. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Leaves the Stage to Mix with His Skeptics,’’ New York Times,
May 2, 2008, A.17.
69. Ibid.
70. Charles P. Pierce, ‘‘The Cynic and Senator Obama,’’ Esquire, June 2008, 109.
71. Jim Rutenberg, ‘‘Edwards Finally Chooses a Favorite,’’ New York Times, May 15,
2008, A.1.
72. Jeff Zeleny and Katharine Q. Seelye, ‘‘West Virginia’s Byrd Supports Obama,’’ New
York Times, May 19, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
73. Michael Gerson, ‘‘A Phenom with Flaws,’’ Washington Post, May 23, 2008, http://
www.washingtonpost.com (accessed May 26, 2008).
74. Carrie Budoff Brown, ‘‘Obama Asks Jewish Voters for Chance,’’ Politico, May 23,
2008, http://www.politico.com (accessed May 26, 2008).
75. Michael Williams, ‘‘One-On-One Interview with Barack Obama,’’ CBS, May 23,
2008, http://cbs4.com/local/barack.obama.michael.2.731465.html (accessed May
26, 2008).
76. Gregory A. Hession, ‘‘Barack Obama,’’ The New American, May 26, 2008, 22.
77. ‘‘Verbatim,’’ Time, June 16, 2008, 12.
78. ‘‘Q & A with Senator Barack Obama,’’ Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2005. General
Reference Center Gold. Gale (accessed May 20, 2008).
79. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘Is America Ready?’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 28–35.
80. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘The Challenges We Face,’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 36–40.
81. Steve Kroft, ‘‘Candidate Obama Feels ‘Sense of Urgency,’ ’’ 60 Minutes, February
11, 2007, http://www.il.proquest.com (accessed May 22, 2008).
82. Richard Wolffe and Daren Briscoe, ‘‘Across the Divide,’’ Newsweek, July 16, 2007,
25.
83. Dan Balz, ‘‘Obama Says He Can Unite U.S. ‘More Effectively’ Than Clinton,’’
Washington Post, August 15, 2007, A01.
84. Powell and Zeleny, ‘‘Lesson of Defeat.’’
85. Baldwin and Reid, ‘‘I’m Winning This Race.’’

86. ‘‘Getting Fratricidal,’’ The Economist, March 15, 2008, 38.
87. Jim Kuhnhenn and Charles Babington, ‘‘Bitter’’ Words Spur Debate,’’ The Denver
Post, April 13, 2008, 21A.
88. Mark Z. Barabak, ‘‘Ex-Labor Secretary Reich Backs Obama,’’ Los Angeles Times,
April 19, 2008, http://www.latimes.com (accessed April 19, 2008).
89. Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘The Politics of the Lapel, When It Comes to
Obama,’’ New York Times, May 15, 2008. A.27.
90. ‘‘Barack Obama on Foreign Policy,’’ http://www.ontheissues.org/International/
Barack_Obama_Foreign_Policy.htm (accessed June 2, 2008).
91. James Pindell, ‘‘The Obama Factor,’’ Campaigns & Elections, December 2006, 98.
92. Rick Pearson, ‘‘Obama on Obama,’’ Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2006, http://
www.il.proquest.com (accessed May 28, 2008).
93. ‘‘The Campaign’s Brightest Star,’’ The Economist, June 16, 2007, 34.
94. Ron Fournier, ‘‘Obama Presidency a ‘Stretch’ for Voters,’’ Associated Press, August
21, 2007, http://abcnews.go.com (accessed August 21, 2007).
95. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘Out of Reach?’’ Time, October 8, 2007, 50, 52.
96. ‘‘The Triumph of Hope over Experience?’’ The Economist, December 15, 2007, 16–18.
97. David Brooks, ‘‘The Obama-Clinton Issue,’’ New York Times, December 18,
2007, A.35.
98. Jodi Kantor, ‘‘A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith,’’ New York
Times, April 30, 2007, A.1.
99. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Assessing Race in America, Obama Calls Pastor Divisive,’’ New York
Times, March 18, 2008, A.1.
100. Barack Obama, ‘‘A More Perfect Union,’’ March 18, 2008, http://www.barackobama.
101. Joe Klein, ‘‘Obama’s Challenge—and Ours,’’ Time, March 31, 2008, 31.
102. Richard Wolffe, ‘‘Obama’s Sister Souljah Moment,’’ Newsweek, April 29, 2008,
http://www.newsweek.com (accessed April 29, 2008).
103. Michael Powell, ‘‘Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church,’’
New York Times, June 1, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed June 2, 2008).
CHAPTER 6
On the Issues
‘‘I believe it is time for a new generation to tell the next great
American story. If we act with boldness and foresight, we will
be able to tell our grandchildren that this was the time when
we helped forge peace in the Middle East. This was the time
we confronted climate change and secured the weapons that
could destroy the human race. This was the time we defeated
global terrorists and brought opportunity to forgotten corners
of the world. And this was the time when we renewed the
America that has led generations of weary travelers from all over
the world to find opportunity and liberty and hope on our
doorstep. We can be this America again. This is our moment to
renew the trust and faith of our people—and all people—in an
America that battles immediate evils, promotes an ultimate
good, and leads the world once more.’’1
On the Issues 115
Introduction
Barack is known as an amazing orator. Even those who disagree with

him often say that he knows how to give a great speech, that he is able
to arouse a crowd, and that he can truly inspire hope in his audience.
However, Barack has often been criticized by his admirers, supporters,
the pundits, and political opponents that although he can turn an
amazing phrase, that he uses ‘‘big words’’ and always seems to be able
to get a crowd of any size clapping and chanting, he is not specific
enough and does not take actual positions on the issues. As the 2008
campaign goes forward and he finds he must communicate with Demo-
crats, Republicans, and the swing voters, unless he is very specific and
his positions are clear, he may find the criticisms get louder and his
supporters begin to wonder.
At a campaign stop in Denver in March 2007, Barack told the audi-
ence that he understood they no longer had confidence in their elected
leaders and that they believed ‘‘government feels like a business instead
Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama waves to supporters

before speaking at a primary night rally on June 3, 2008, in St. Paul, Minne-
sota. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
of a mission.’’ His campaign, he assured them, was their campaign,

shouting, ‘‘We have to take over Washington. At every juncture when
the people decided to change this country, it changed.’’2 Touching on
health care, education, and energy, Barack’s biggest response came when
he stated once again that the Iraq war should never have been author-
ized and added that America was less safe and America’s standing in the
world was diminished. A Denver man, standing near the stage, stated
to the Denver Post reporter that he already knew he was backing Barack
for president, stating, ‘‘He has soul and a conscience, and he’s looking
out for Joe Blow.’’ A woman in the crowd, describing herself as a life-
long Republican, said she hadn’t been happy with the current adminis-
tration and after hearing Barack’s speech, she liked what he said.3
The next day, a columnist for the Denver Post wrote that Barack
would need ongoing inspiration to keep conveying his optimism to vot-
ers and wondered if Barack could continue to inspire after his short
time on the campaign trail. In his article, he quoted a sixty-three-year-
old man who had driven to Denver to hear Barack: ‘‘He gives me hope
as a presidential candidate. He will win because the American public is
ready for a change. He’s energized people to a level I haven’t seen since
JFK and RFK.’’ He wrote about a nineteen-year-old college student
who said she wanted to vote for someone she could believe in, and of a
fifty-nine-year-old woman who wanted to see Barack in person, adding
that there was something about Barack that made her think she could
trust him, that she thought the idea of being hopeful again was won-
derful, and that she hadn’t been that hopeful since 1968. The key, the
columnist said, was for Barack to continue to inspire and to keep vot-
ers’ attention. He agreed with an advertising salesman in the crowd:
‘‘He’s timely. But as this thing goes on, he’s got to get a lot more spe-
cific and a lot stronger.’’4
In November 2004, Barack spoke with Oprah Winfrey about his
multicultural upbringing, his political plans, priorities, and the saving
grace of his wife and daughters. Oprah asked him what he wanted to
do with his politics. Barack answered,
I want to make real the American ideal that every child in this
country has a shot at life. Right now that’s not true in the aggregate …
But so many kids have the odds stacked so high against them. The
odds don’t have to be that high. We can be sure that they start off
On the Issues 117
with health insurance, that they have early childhood education, that
they have a roof over their heads, and that they have good teachers.
These are things we can afford to do that will make a difference. Part
of my task is to persuade the majority in this country that those
investments are worth it, and if we make better choices in our gov-
ernment, we can deliver on that promise.5
Writing for The Nation, David Sirota interviewed Barack in his Cap-
itol Hill office in June 2006. Sirota asked Barack to explain his
‘‘healthcare for hybrids’’ auto industry proposal and why not simply
push to strengthen fuel-efficiency mandates. Barack answered,
There is a difference between an opinion writer or thinker and a

legislator. I a lot of times don’t get an opportunity to frame legisla-
tion in ways that I would exactly prefer. I have to take into account
what is possible within the constraints of the institution.
Fuel-efficiency standards, Barack said, provided a good example of what

he was talking about. He said the two senators from Michigan, Levin
and Stabenow, are progressive senators, but ‘‘if you have a conversation
with them about standards, they are adamantly opposed. That’s some-
thing that I’ve got to take into account if I’m going to be able to
actually get something accomplished.’’6
I would say, domestically, our national debt and budget constrain us

in ways that are going to be very far-reaching, and long lasting … I
think whoever is elected in 2008 is going to be cleaning up the fiscal
mess that was created as a consequence of the President’s tax cuts …
the incapacity to take serious action around a set of issues that, if we
don’t deal with now, will leave us in either an uncompetitive posi-
tion, in the case of energy, an environmental point of no return. It’s
the fact that we didn’t get started on a whole host of issues that we
shouldn’t be starting right now, because it takes long lead times to
change the schools, or it takes long lead times to develop alternative
energy sources. I think those are years of missed opportunity that
make it harder for us to deal with them in the future.7
Attempting to brush off the question of race in his campaign,

Barack said in December 2007, ‘‘My job is to get known in this race.
African-American voters, Latino voters, women voters … what they

are concerned about is not identity, it’s issues’’8
In an address held in a football stadium in Columbia, South Caro-
lina, an early voting state, Barack told a crowd estimated at 29,000,
‘‘I’m tired of Democrats thinking the only way to look tough on
national security is to act like George Bush. We need a bold Demo-
cratic Party that’s going to stand for something, not just posture and
pose.’’ Barack said if he is the party nominee, an opponent would not
be able to say he supported going to war in Iraq. He added,
It’s not good enough to tell the people what you think they want to
hear, instead of what they need to hear. That just won’t do. Not this
time. We can’t spend all our time triangulating and poll-testing our
positions because we’re worried about what Mitt [Romney] or Fred
[Thompson] or the other Republican nominees are going to say
about us.9
In an interview with Newsweek magazine in February 2008, Barack

was asked, ‘‘Even great presidents accomplish only two or three big
things. What will you have accomplished at the end of eight years?’’
Barack answered,
We will have ended the war in Iraq in an honorable and strategic

way as part of a larger process of rebuilding our standing in the
world. We will have passed universal health care and not only
expanded coverage, but started on the road toward a more efficient
system. And we will have a bold energy agenda that drastically
reduces our emission of greenhouse gases while creating a green
engine that can drive growth for many years to come.10
On Foreign Policy
To renew American leadership in the world, as president, Barack said

he would invest in common humanity and that a global engagement
cannot be defined by what we are against, but that it must be guided

by a clear sense of what we stand for. We have a significant stake in
ensuring that those who live in fear and want today can live with
On the Issues 119
dignity and opportunity tomorrow … to build a better, freer world,

we must first behave in ways that reflect the decency and aspirations
of the American people.11
In May 2007, Barack said that after a U.S. withdrawal pushes Iraqi
leaders towards political accommodation, the new president should
make a commitment to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, ‘‘a task
that the Bush administration neglected for years.’’ He called for a dia-
logue with Iran and Syria, noting, ‘‘our policy of issuing threats and
relying on intermediaries … is failing. Although we must not rule out
using military force, we should not hesitate to talk directly.’’ Barack said
the Army should grow by 65,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps by
27,000 members. He said he would focus increased attention on
Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he called ‘‘the central front in our war
against al-Qaeda.’’ Barack noted: ‘‘People around the world have heard
a great deal of late about freedom on the march. Tragically, many have
come to associate this with war, torture, and forcibly imposed regime
change.’’12
Throughout the Middle East, we must harness American power to

reinvigorate American diplomacy. Tough-minded diplomacy, backed
by a whole range of instruments of American power—political, eco-
nomic, and military—could bring success even when dealing with
long-standing adversaries such as Iran and Syria. Our policy of issu-
ing threats and relying on intermediaries to curb Iran’s nuclear pro-
gram, sponsorship of terrorism, and regional aggression is failing …
To renew American leadership in the world, we must confront the most
urgent threat to the security of America and the world—the spread of
nuclear weapons, material, and technology and the risk that a nuclear
device will fall into the hands of terrorists … As president, I will work
with other nations to secure, destroy, and stop the spread of these
weapons in order to dramatically reduce the nuclear dangers for our
nation and the world. America must lead a global effort to secure all
nuclear weapons and material at vulnerable sites within four years—the
most effective way to prevent terrorists from acquiring a bomb.13
Senator Hillary Clinton suggested many times during the presiden-

tial campaign that Barack did not have the foreign policy experience
required to be president and suggested he had less foreign policy
experience than any president since World War II. Barack responded to
the charge in December 2007:
They want to press what they consider to be a comparative advant-

age. It seems to get less traction as people hear me talk. If Senator
Clinton has specific differences with me on Iraq, Iran, Burma, she
can pick her hot spot, and we’ll have a fruitful debate. The American
people might not agree with everything I say, but I don’t think they’ll
say, ‘‘The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’’14
Keith Reinhard of the advertising agency DDB Worldwide also

started a business in 2002 called Business for Diplomatic Action, a coa-
lition of marketing, political science, and media professionals aimed at
improving the standing of America in the world through business out-
reach. After commissioning research and testifying before Congress,
Reinhard distilled his advice to one word: Listen. ‘‘Everywhere I go,
from CEOs to people on the street, I hear the same thing. The U.S.
needs to listen to the world.’’ Author Ellen McGirt, in her article enti-
tled ‘‘The Brand Called Obama,’’ which appeared in the magazine Fast
Company in April 2008, said,
This is precisely the strategy that Obama professes in international

relations: to engage, even with countries that have been viewed as
America’s enemies … Obama’s strategy is not one that all geopolitical
experts agree with, but it is consistent with his criticism at home of
what he terms ‘‘a politics that says it’s okay to demonize your politi-
cal opponents when we should be coming together to solve
problems.’’
McGirt writes, ‘‘Obama’s candidacy and its call for change may already
be resonating in countries that have lamented U.S. policy but still want
to believe in the promise of American leadership.’’ ‘‘That Obama exists
has already begun to recalibrate the way the world sees us. This is a
good thing,’’ says Keith Reinhard.15
On his foreign policy experience, Barack has noted that ‘‘experience
in Washington is not knowledge of the world’’ and speaks to his
upbringing where he lived and traveled in foreign countries and also to
his work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also noted
that foreign policy experience is often not gained by visiting a country’s
On the Issues 121
airport and embassy and then leaving. Barack’s foreign policy positions
represent fundamental philosophical differences with Senator John
McCain, the Republican party’s nominee for president in 2008.
According to Susan E. Rice, a former assistant secretary of state for
African affairs, a National Security Council official, and one of Barack’s
foreign policy advisors, Barack’s experience can ‘‘provide a different
kind of insight than the traditional resume,’’ adding:
At a time when our foreign policy and national security have so obvi-
ously suffered from a simplistic, black-and-white interpretation, an
American president who spent part of his formative years and young
adulthood living in a poor country under a dictatorship [Indonesia]
brings an understanding of the complexity of things that others may
not have. I’m not saying that official travels and Congressional dele-
gations are without value, but there are limits to what you can glean
from that.16
In April 2008, General David Petraeus and the Ambassador to Iraq,

Ryan Crocker, spoke at their semiannual hearings before Congress. At
the hearing, Barack asked both Petraeus and Crocker about ‘‘two main
threats: Sunni terrorists like al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Iran.’’ He noted that
al-Qaeda had been rejected by the Iraqi Sunnis and chased to the
northern city of Mosul. If, he asked, U.S. and Iraqi troops succeeded
there, what was next? He proposed, ‘‘Our goal is not to hunt down and
eliminate every single trace of al-Qaeda but rather to create a managea-
ble situation where they’re not posing a threat to Iraq.’’ Petraeus said
that Barack was ‘‘exactly right.’’ When Barack asked Crocker about
Iran: ‘‘We couldn’t expect Iran to have no influence in Iraq, could we?’’
Crocker replied, ‘‘We have no problem with a good, constructive rela-
tionship between Iran and Iraq. The problem is with the Iranian
strategy of backing extremist militia groups and sending in weapons
and munitions that are used against Iraqis and against our own forces.’’
Barack asked, ‘‘If Iran is such a threat to Iraq, why was Iranian Presi-
dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad greeted with open arms and apparently a
lot of official kissing in Baghdad last month?’’ Crocker replied, ‘‘A visit
like that should be in the category of a normal relationship.’’ Barack
then noted that the current situation in Iraq was ‘‘messy,’’ and that
‘‘There’s still violence; there’s still some traces of al-Qaeda; Iran has
influence more than we would like. But if we had the current status
quo and yet our troops had been drawn down to 30,000, would we
consider that a success?’’17
In an interview with Richard Wolffe of Newsweek in April 2008,
Barack spoke about his trip to Pakistan in the early 1980s to stay with
a college friend and how his early travels have shaped his views on for-
eign policy. Wolffe asked Barack what stuck with him about his time in
Pakistan. Barack replied, ‘‘You had at that time a military government,
you had a lot of problems with corruption, a lot of unemployed young
men on the streets, a very wealthy ruling class … there were a lot of
trends that were similar to what I saw in Indonesia and what I would
later see in Kenya.’’ When asked if his experiences inform his approach
to Pakistan today, Barack said,
What it tells me is that the most important aspect of our foreign policy
is not simply our relations with the rulers of these countries, but also
our appreciation and understanding of the challenges and hardships
and the struggles that ordinary people are going through … without
understanding that our choice in a place like Pakistan is not simply
[between] military dictatorship or Islamic rule, led us to make a series
of miscalculations that has weakened our fight against terrorism.
In response to a global summit of Muslim leaders early in his presi-

dency, Barack replied,
I think that I can speak credibly to them about the fact that I respect
their culture, that I understand their religion, that I have lived in a
Muslim country, and as a consequence I know it is possible to recon-
cile Islam with modernity and respect for human rights and a rejec-
tion of violence.
Barack said he was the ‘‘anti-doctrine candidate,’’ and did not believe
in abstractions when it comes to foreign policy; that decisions must be
made based on an understanding of America’s power and limits, and an
understanding of history. Barack said that the single most important
national security threat that America faces is on nuclear weapons, and
that if nuclear weapons are kept out of the hands of terrorists, America
can then handle the terrorists. This, he stated, would be one of his
highest priorities as president.18
On the Issues 123
On the Economy
In April 2008, Maria Bartiromo, the anchor of the CNBC network pro-
gram ‘‘Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo,’’ interviewed Barack for Busi-
ness Week Online. She asked Barack, ‘‘Why raise taxes in a slowdown?
Isn’t that going to put a further strain on people?’’ Barack responded,
There’s no doubt that anything I do is going to be premised on what

the economic situation is when I take office next January. The thing
you can be assured of is that I’m not going to make these decisions
based on ideology … but I believe in the market. I believe in entre-
preneurship. I believe in capitalism, and I want to do what works.
One of the problems of the Bush Administration has been its rigid-
ness when it comes to economic policy. It doesn’t matter what the
problem is, they’ll say tax cuts … At a certain point, if you’ve only
got one arrow in the quiver, you’re going to have problems.19
In an interview with the Scranton Times-Tribune, in Scranton, Penn-

sylvania on April 21, 2008, Barack was asked if there was only one
thing he could accomplish to improve the economy, what it would be.
Barack answered,
It would be to invest in clean energy, to lower demand and lower gas

prices and create millions of jobs in clean and renewable energies like
win and solar and biodiesel. I think that would make a huge
improvement—long term … short term, our most urgent need is sta-
bilizing our housing market … I propose to get borrowers and lend-
ers to work together to set up fixed interest rate mortgages … that
will in turn stabilize the financial market and get credit going again
so we can pull out of this recession as quickly as possible.20
On Health Care
In a speech in Iowa City, Iowa on May 29, 2007, Barack spoke about
health care and what he calls his ‘‘Plan for a Healthy America.’’
We now face an opportunity—and an obligation—to turn the page

on the failed politics of yesterday’s health care debates. My plan
begins by covering every American. If you already have health insur-

ance, the only thing that will change for you under this plan is the
amount of money you will spend on premiums. That will be less. If
you are one of the 45 million Americans who don’t have health
insurance, you will have it after this plan becomes law. No one will
be turned away because of a preexisting condition or illness.
Barack said to the Iowa crowd, ‘‘We have reached a point in this
country where the rising cost of health care has put too many families
and businesses on a collision course with financial ruin and left too
many without coverage at all.’’21 To pay for the plan, Barack proposed
restoring the tax rates for the ‘‘wealthiest’’ individuals back to the levels
during the Clinton administration.
In April 2007, prior to the Iowa speech, the Democratic candidates
held a forum on health care in Las Vegas. The Economist editorialized
on Senator Clinton’s seeming mastery of the subject of universal health
coverage, and on how Barack ‘‘resorted to empty waffle, endorsing the
idea of universal coverage but confessing that he had not yet produced
a health care plan. An odd failure, given that the forum was devoted to
the subject—and that this is one of the most important issues for Dem-
ocratic voters.’’ Replying to this editorial charge, Barack and his cam-
paign team quickly stated that a plan was in the works.22 The
comparisons of Senator Clinton and her positions on the issues impor-
tant to Americans to Barack and his positions began prior to Barack
becoming a candidate and continued throughout the long 2008
campaign.
David Sirota, writing for The Nation, interviewed Barack in his
office in Washington, D.C. Sirota asked Barack about what kind of
leadership progressives can expect from him. Barack said,
I am agnostic in terms of the models that solve problems. If the only

way to solve a problem is structural, institutional change, then I will
be for structural, institutional change. If I think we can achieve those
same goals within the existing institutions, then I am going to try do
that, because I think it’s going to be easier to do and less disruptive
and less costly and less painful … I think everybody in this country
should have basic health care. And what I’m trying to figure out is
how to get from here to there.
On the Issues 125
Barack went on to tell Sirota about his support for other structural
changes, including public financing of elections, strong labor protec-
tions to trade pacts, and efforts to create a more just tax system. He
later decided, in June 2008, against accepting public financing for his
election bid.23
Speaking at a health care forum in Las Vegas in 2007, Barack spoke
about preventative care:
We’ve got to put more money in prevention. It makes no sense for

children to be going to the emergency room for treatable ailments
like asthma. Twenty percent of our patients who have chronic ill-
nesses account for eighty percent of the costs, so it’s absolutely critical
that we invest in managing those with chronic illnesses.
On health insurance, Barack said,
We have to change the way we finance health care, and that’s going
to mean taking money away from people who make out really well
right now … the insurance companies make money by employing a
lot of people to try to avoid insuring you and then, if you’re insured,
to try to avoid paying for the health care you received … If you’re
starting from scratch, then a single-payer system would probably
make sense. But we’ve got all these legacy systems in place, and man-
aging the transition … would be difficult to pull off. So we may need
a system that’s not so disruptive that people feel like suddenly what
they’ve known for most of their lives is thrown by the wayside.24
In Iowa City, Barack offered a plan to provide health care to millions

of Americans and more affordable medical insurance, financed in part
by tax increases on the wealthy. He ‘‘bemoaned a health care cost cri-
sis,’’ calling it ‘‘unacceptable that 47 million in the country are unin-
sured while others are struggling to pay their medical bills.’’ He said
‘‘the time is ripe for reforming the health care system despite an inabil-
ity to do so in the past.’’ Barack added, ‘‘We can do this. The climate is
far different than it was the last time we tried this in the early nineties.’’
Barack’s first promise as a presidential candidate was that he would sign
a universal health care plan into law by the end of his first term in the
White House. There were disputes over whether his plan would provide
universal care and that it aimed at lowering costs so all Americans can
afford insurance but did not guarantee everyone would buy it. Ron Pol-
lack, executive director of the advocacy group Families USA, praised
Barack and other leading Democratic candidates for focusing on
improving health care, but said of Barack’s plan, ‘‘It’s not totally clear
that it would result in universal coverage.’’ He added: ‘‘What makes it a
top national priority now is not simply a sense of sympathy for people
who are uninsured but a sense of fear that the coverage that used to be
taken for granted can no longer be taken for granted.’’ Barack’s cam-
paign stated that everyone would buy health insurance if it were afford-
able enough, achieving universal care. If some Americans were still
uninsured after a few years into the plan, Barack would reconsider how
to get to 100 percent.25
In an interview with Newsweek in February 2008, Barack was asked
about the issues facing Americans today and what he would do as presi-
dent. On health care, Barack answered,
[T]he critical issue is the ability to mobilize the American people to

move forward. The problem on health care is not the technical
one—we all talk to the same experts. The question is who can build
working majorities to push this stuff through. I don’t think any fair-
minded observer would suggest that Hillary Clinton is best equipped
to break us out of the political gridlock that exists in Washington.26
On Education
Barack spoke to a group of students at Lincoln Land Community Col-

lege in Springfield, Illinois in October 2004. He said, ‘‘We have an
obligation and a responsibility to be investing in our students and our
schools. We must make sure that people who have the grades, the desire
and the will, but not the money, can still get the best education
possible.’’27
In an interview for the journal Black Issues in Higher Education in
October 2004, Barack was asked about personal responsibility and the
need for greater commitment to and respect of academic excellence.
We have to redouble our commitment to education within our own

communities and within our homes, and raise the bar for our
On the Issues 127
children in terms of what we expect from them. It’s not enough that
they just graduate … just believing that education is not only for our
economic future, but it’s also important just to give meaning to your
life and give you a broader perspective on the world, that’s something
I think we have to recapture. And I say recapture because a genera-
tion ago I think there was greater respect for educational achievement
within out communities.28
On the question of inner-city poverty and dysfunction, Barack pro-

posed early childhood education, afterschool and mentoring programs,
and efforts to teach young parents how to be parents. He also empha-
sized personal responsibility:
The framework that tends to be set up in Washington—which is

either the problem is not enough money and not enough government
programs, or the problem is a culture of poverty and not enough
emphasis on traditional values—presents a false choice. There is a
strong values-and-character component to educational achievement.
To deny that is to deny reality, and I don’t want to cede that reality
to conservatives who use it as an excuse to underfund the schools …
Sometimes people think that when we talk about values, that some-
how that’s making ‘‘lift yourself up by your own bootstraps’’ argument
and letting the larger society off the hook. That’s why I always empha-
size that we need both individual responsibility and mutual responsibil-
ity … if a child is raised in a disorderly environment with inadequate
health care and guns going off late at night, then it’s a lot harder to
incorporate those values. We as a society can take responsibility for cre-
ating conditions in which those cultural attributes are enhanced.29
In June 2007, Barack attended the National Education Association

meeting and told the crowd that he’s ‘‘committed to fixing and improv-
ing our public schools instead of abandoning them and passing out
vouchers.’’ He said that Washington ‘‘left common sense behind when
they passed No Child Left Behind,’’ and that teacher pay must be
raised ‘‘across the board.’’ He told the teachers, ‘‘If you excel at helping
your students achieve success, your success will be valued and rewarded
as well.’’ He added that this must be done ‘‘with teachers, not imposed
on them, and not based on some arbitrary test score.’’30
Senator Clinton won the New Hampshire Primary on January 8,

2008. In his speech that night, Barack spoke about the primary and the
issues of the day. On education, Barack told the crowd of supporters,
We can stop sending our children to schools with corridors of shame

and start putting them on a pathway to success. We can stop talking
about how great teachers are and start rewarding them for their great-
ness. We can do this with our new great majority.31
To many, affirmative action suggests that all African Americans come

from poverty and always face discrimination when applying to the
nation’s colleges and universities. Barack has suggested that his two
daughters should not benefit from affirmative action because of their
privileged upbringing. On this issue and how it is used in higher educa-
tion, Barack said the following in April 2008:
I think that the basic principle that should guide discussions not just
of affirmative action, but how we are admitting young people to col-
lege generally, is how do we make sure that we’re providing ladders
of opportunity for people? How do we make sure that every child in
America has a decent shot in pursuing their dreams? I still believe in
affirmative action as a means of overcoming both historic and poten-
tially current discrimination, but I think it can’t be a quota system
and it can’t be something that is simply applied without looking at
the whole person, whether that person is black, or white, or His-
panic, male or female. What we want to do is make sure that people
who’ve been locked out of opportunity are going to be able to walk
through those doors of opportunity in the future.32
When the Democratic primary moved to Indiana in May 2008, polls

showed that the race was extremely close. Both Barack and Clinton dis-
patched their spouses to campaign. Michelle Obama spoke about edu-
cation: ‘‘Let’s not elect somebody who has been there and hasn’t done
it,’’ she said, adding that education was the issue that most concerns
parents and that her husband was the only one who could make
changes in education.
It’s going to take us being, as a nation, deeply passionate and angry

about the failing education for all kids. When was the last time we
On the Issues 129
had some really solid questions for these candidates on education in

a debate? You know all about the issues in our personal lives, but …
education is the thing we should be angry about.33
On Energy and the Environment
At a League of Conservation rally for John Kerry, the Democratic

candidate for the presidency in 2004, Barack made a speech that
brought environmental activists to their feet. He said,
Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it’s not a white

issue, it’s not a black issue, it’s not a South or a North or an East or
a West issue. It’s an issue that all of us have a stake in. And if I can
do anything to make sure that not just my daughter but every child
in America has green pastures to run in and clean air to breathe and
clean water to swim in, then that is something I’m going to work my
hardest to make happen.34
After getting his law degree from Harvard, Barack became a civil-rights
lawyer. When elected to the Illinois state senate in 1996, he distinguished
himself as a leader on environmental and public health issues. In 2003,
Barack was one of six state senators to receive a 100% environmental
voting record award from the Illinois Environmental Council.35
On April 3, 2006, Barack spoke on the Senate floor regarding energy
independence and about the planet. He said,
For decades, we’ve been warned by legions of scientists and mountains

of evidence that this was coming—that we couldn’t just keep burning
fossil fuels and contribute to the changing atmosphere without conse-
quence. And yet, for decades, far too many have ignored the warnings,
either dismissing the science as a hoax or believing that it was the con-
cern of enviros looking to save polar bears and rainforests.36
Columnist Joe Klein reported from the campaign trail for Time
magazine. On the energy issue, Barack said,
When I call for increased fuel-economy standards, that doesn’t sit

very well with the [United Auto Workers], and they’re big buddies of
mine … Look, it’s just not my style to go out of my way to offend

people or be controversial just for the sake of being controversial.
That’s offensive and counterproductive. It makes people feel defen-
sive and more resistant to changes.37
In June 2007, Barack spoke to the Detroit Economic Club. He

asserted that any aid Washington gives automakers for their soaring
health-care costs should be tied to improving fuel efficiency. He noted,
We anticipated that there weren’t necessarily going to be a lot of
applause lines in that speech. It was sort of an eat-your-spinach
approach. But one thing I did say to people was that I wasn’t going
to make an environmental speech in California and then make a dif-
ferent speech in Detroit.38
Reviewing Barack’s environmental record, author Amanda Griscom

Little wrote in her article for Salon.com entitled ‘‘Obama on Energy
for ’08’’ that in his two and a half years in the U.S. Senate, Barack
Obama has been active on matters of energy and the environment:
‘‘The Democrat from Illinois has introduced or co-sponsored nearly a
hundred eco-related bills on issues ranging from lead poisoning and
mercury emissions to auto fuel economy and biofuels promotion.
Along the way, he has racked up a notable 96 percent rating from
League of Conservation Voters.’’ In this same article, Barack was asked
how he would structure policies. Barack responded,
Through greater fuel economy and the use of hybrid and plug-in
vehicles, we can notably reduce our dependence on foreign oil over
the next decade. It is important to note that domestic fuel security,
environmental protection and economy development all must be
considered in unison as we progress … so that as we move forward …
we do so responsibly.39
On the campaign trail in South Carolina, Barack was asked what he

would do to lower gas prices. Barack answered,
I don’t want to lie to you—there are not that many good short-term sol-
utions. But the truth is, the primary problem we’ve got is we consume
too much gas. Any politician who comes in and says he’s going to be
lowering gas prices right away is just not telling the truth.40
On the Issues 131
On Immigration
Barack has played a key role in supporting bipartisan efforts led by

Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy to legislate immigration
reform. Barack’s immigration platform centers on three concepts:
border security, employer accountability, and earned citizenship.
We have a right and a duty to protect our borders. We can insist to

those already here that with citizenship come obligations—to a com-
mon language, common loyalties, a common purpose, a common
destiny. But ultimately the dangers to our way of life is not that we
will be overrun by those who do not look like us or do not yet speak
our language … if we withhold from them the rights and opportuni-
ties that we take for granted, and tolerate the hypocrisy of a servant
class in our midst … or if we stand idly by as America continues to
become increasingly unequal, an inequality that tracks racial lines
and therefore feeds racial strife and which, as the country becomes
more black and brown, neither our democracy nor our economy can
long withstand.41
On May 23, 2006, Barack spoke on the Senate floor regarding

employment verification as part of the amendment for the Immigration
Bill. He said,
One of the central components of immigration reform is enforce-

ment, and this bill contains a number of important provisions to beef
up border security. But that’s not enough. Real enforcement also
means drying up the pool of jobs that encourages illegal immigra-
tion. And that can only happen if employers don’t hire illegal
workers.42
On the Constitution and Civil Rights
In mid-June 2007, a group of Iowans waited patiently to ask Barack

questions. A high school student wearing a camouflage hat asked, ‘‘I’m
a hunter and a competitive shooter. I wanna (sic) know your policy on
firearms.’’ Barack answered,
I believe that the Second Amendment means something. I believe

that hunters and sportsmen should have the right to engage in those
activities. I do believe in some commonsense gun-control laws.
Stronger background checks … I think we should be able to find a
balance where you’re able to do what you do and also not have ran-
dom shootings all the time.43
On the issue of civil rights, Barack can claim to be part of a younger

generation of activists. In March 2007, MSNBC commentator Tucker
Carlson noted that Barack is not a product of the Civil Rights movement,
saying, ‘‘he’s a product of a much broader experience than that. Black poli-
tics will never be the same after his running for president.’’ Author John
K. Wilson, in his book Barack Obama, The Improbable Quest notes that
Barack is not a ‘‘post-Civil Rights’’ politician, but rather he is a ‘‘because
of Civil Rights’’ politician. Wilson writes that Barack is too young to have
ever marched in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, but he has been
directly involved in civil rights as a community organizer, helping blacks
on the south side of Chicago in their fight for civil rights, and as a civil
rights attorney and lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. Fur-
thermore, as a state legislator Barack worked to pass legislation to stop
racial profiling by police and also worked on other civil rights matters dur-
ing his years in Illinois state politics.44 Donna Brazile, who was a part of
Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 and a Democratic strategist, said, ‘‘Now we
have a politician that’s coming to us, not from the Civil Rights chapter
but the chapter that Martin Luther King wanted us to get to.’’
On May 24, 2006, Barack spoke on the Senate floor in opposition
to the amendment requiring photo identification to vote. He said,
There is no more fundamental right accorded to United States citi-

zens by the Constitution than the right to vote. The unimpeded exer-
cise of this right is essential to the functioning of our democracy.
Unfortunately, history has not been kind to certain citizens in pro-
tecting their ability to exercise this right.45
On the issue of civil unions and gay marriage, Barack said the fol-
lowing on June 5, 2006:
Today, we take up the valuable time of the U.S. Senate with a pro-
posed amendment to our Constitution that has absolutely no chance
On the Issues 133
of passing. We do this, allegedly, in an attempt to uphold the institu-

tion of marriage in this country. We do this despite the fact that for
over two hundred years, Americans have been defining and defending
marriage on the state and local level without any help from the U.S.
Constitution at all.46
Barack added, ‘‘I agree with most Americans, with Democrats and
Republicans, with Vice President Cheney, with over 2,000 religious
leaders of all different beliefs, that decisions about marriage, as they
always have, should be left to the states.’’47
On the Iraq War, the War on Terror,
National Security, and America’s Military
In October 2002, when a group of anti-war activists invited Barack to

speak at an anti-war rally in Chicago, Barack’s friends and supporters
did not encourage his attendance. However, he decided he would speak.
At the rally, held at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago in front of a
crowd of approximately 2,000 people, Barack took a position on what
was, at the time, a war that most Americans supported. Barack said,
What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a

rash war … what I am opposed to is the attempt … to distract us
from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the
media income—to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock
market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great
Depression. That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A
war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on
politics.48
Barack told the crowd,
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S.
occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with
undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without
a clear rationale and without strong international support will only
fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather
than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the require-
ment arm of al-Qaeda.49
Perhaps it was because Barack was a rather obscure Illinois state senator
in the midst of a re-election campaign that the Chicago anti-war rally
received little attention. However, after his speech at the Democratic
National Convention, as the media began to follow him everywhere, as
attention mounted about his run for the presidency, and after he
announced his bid for the presidency in February 2007, the anti-war
speech took on an unrivaled significance. It was described as powerful,
as fortuitous, and as it turned out, certainly timely. Barack could easily
say he was not in the Senate when the members voted to give President
Bush authorization for the Iraq war, and he could also say he was against
the war from the start. At the time of the speech, President Bush enjoyed
a very high approval rating, and polls showed that a majority of Ameri-
cans were in favor of a war in Iraq. Barack had every reason to believe
that the war would continue to be popular and his opposition might
cause him to lose his future ambitions for national office. Still, he gave
the speech and continued his opposition to the Iraq war.
In November 2006, David Remnick interviewed Barack at the
American Magazine Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Remnick asked
Barack what he felt were the worst instances of disaster by the Bush
Administration and where he disagreed the most with the Administra-
tion. Barack answered that it was foreign policy that was the most
obvious.
I think the war in Iraq has been—was flawed … and has done
enormous damage to our standing around the world … has
weakened us in our capacity to deal with terrorism … we have used
so much political capital there that we have not been effective on
issues like Iran, North Korea, Darfu … it has gutted our military.50
Columnist Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg News wrote in January 2007

that Barack was (on Iraq) ‘‘dead-on correct about this seminal issue of
our time.’’51
The BBC News profiled Barack in January 2007. They described
him as ‘‘Rock star’’ and ‘‘beach babe,’’ noting that these were not labels
normally applied to U.S. Senators. They quoted Barack’s support of the
men and women serving in Iraq:
On the Issues 135
When we send our young men and women into harm’s way, we have
a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth
about why they’re going, to care for their families while they’re gone,
to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war
without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the
respect of the world.52
The New Yorker compared the foreign policy stance of the Demo-
crats running for president in January 2007. Barack told author Jeffrey
Goldberg for the article,
It is not a great bargain for the next President to take over the mess
in Iraq. But there is as much pressure in both the Republican and
Democratic camps, because both have genuine concern for the troops
and the families and the budget. It won’t be good for congressmen of
the President’s party if we’re still spending two billion dollars a week
in Iraq in two years … What I don’t want to see happen is for Iraq
to become an excuse for us to ignore misery or human rights viola-
tions or genocide … We absolutely have an obligation to the Iraqi
people. That’s why I’ve resisted calls for an immediate withdrawal.53
Frank Rich, in his Sunday column for the New York Times, wrote
about Barack and Barack’s statement that he is ‘‘not interested in just
splitting the difference’’ when he habitually seeks a consensus on tough
issues. ‘‘There are some times where we need to be less bipartisan. I’m
not interested in cheap bipartisanship. We should have been less bipar-
tisan in asking tough questions about entering this Iraq war.’’54
In his announcement speech in February 2007, when he formally
entered the presidential race, Barack told the crowd in Springfield, Illi-
nois, ‘‘America, it’s time to start bringing our troops home. It’s time to
admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political dis-
agreement that lies at the heart of someone else’s civil war.’’55
When asked if senators who voted in favor of authorization bear
some responsibility for the war in Iraq, Barack said, ‘‘The authorization
allowed the administration to wage a war that has damaged national
security … I leave it up to those senators to make their own assessments
in how they would do things differently or not.’’56
In an interview in February 2007, Barack said of the Iraq war,
The authorization vote is relevant only because it gives an insight

into how people think about these problems and suggests the sort of
judgment they apply in evaluation of a policy decision. There are
people who sincerely believe that this was the best course of action,
but in some cases politics entered into the calculation. In retrospect,
a lot of people feel like they didn’t ask hard enough questions.57
His opponents countered these statements with the fact that Barack had
not given a policy speech on Iraq until he had been in the Senate for
eleven months. In response, Barack stated that during his first year in the
Senate, he took a deliberate low-key approach and did not make any
major speeches on issues that were being discussed or voted upon, stating,
As a freshman, our objective was not to try to get in the front all the
time. But the truth is that in that first year, we had just seen an Iraqi
election, and my feeling was that while I was not optimistic, it was
appropriate to try to give the nascent government a chance.58
At a rally in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2007, Barack ran through a

litany of problems plaguing America and promised that the country
could ‘‘make sure that every single American has health care in this
country in the next six years, by the end of the next president’s first
term—by the end of my first term.’’ He pledged to work towards a goal
in which every car in the nation gets forty miles to the gallon and to
revitalize the U.S. educational system, then added,
But we’re not going to be able to even get started on some of these
problems unless we bring an end to the senseless war in Iraq … It’s
about stubbornness and obstinacy. And we have to keep ratcheting
up the pressure every day and every week to tell the President that it
is time to change course, that it is time for us to start bringing our
combat troops home from Iraq.59
Barack has adamantly stated that his position on the Iraq war was
different than Senator Hillary Clinton’s. On May 18, 2007, President
Bill Clinton said the following of Barack’s stance on the Iraq war: ‘‘This
dichotomy that’s been set up to allow him to become the raging hero
of the anti-war crowd on the Internet is just factually inaccurate.’’ Bar-
ack responded,
On the Issues 137
Well, I suppose that’s true if you leave out the fact that she [Senator
Hillary Clinton] authorized it and supported it, and I said it was a
bad idea. You know, that’s a fairly major difference … I think very
highly of Senator Clinton. I think she is a wonderful senator from
New York, but—and I think very highly of Bill Clinton. But I think
that it is fair to say that we had a fundamentally different opinion on
the wisdom of this war. And I don’t think we can revise history when
it comes to that.60
In May 2007, Barack voted against a measure to pay for the Iraq
war that set no timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops. John McCain,
who became the Republican nominee for the 2008 presidential race,
said after the vote, ‘‘I was very disappointed to see Senator Obama and
Senator Clinton embrace the policy of surrender. This vote may win
favor with MoveOn and liberal primary voters, but it’s the equivalent
of waving a white flag to al Qaeda.’’ Eli Pariser, executive director of
MoveOn.org, said in response to the vote,
[t]hat no member of Congress who voted for the bill could pretend
to be an opponent of the war … Senators Obama, Clinton and
Dodd stood up and did the right thing—voting down the President’s
war policy. They’re showing real leadership toward ending the war,
and MoveOn’s members are grateful. This bold stand … won’t soon
be forgotten.
Barack said of his vote, ‘‘This vote is a choice between validating the
same failed policy in Iraq that has cost us so many lives and demanding
a new one. And I am demanding a new one.’’61
Barack wrote in the July/August 2007 issue of the journal Foreign
Affairs,
To renew American leadership in the world, we must first bring the

Iraq war to a responsible end and refocus our attention on the
broader Middle East … we must launch a comprehensive regional
and international diplomatic initiative to help broker an end to the
civil war in Iraq, prevent its spread, and limit the suffering of the
Iraqi people … To renew American leadership in the world, we must
immediately begin working to revitalize our military … rebuild and
prepare it for the missions of the future … Enhancing our military
will not be enough … I would use our armed forces wisely … I will
clearly define the mission, seek out the advice of our military
commanders, objectively evaluate intelligence, and ensure that our
troops have the resources and the support they need. I will not hesi-
tate to use force, unilaterally if necessary, to protect the American
people or our vital interests whenever we are attacked or imminently
threatened.62
As the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq war approached,

Barack spoke at DePaul University. He said,
This is not just a matter of debating the past. It’s about who has the
best judgment to make the critical decisions of the future. This elec-
tion is about ending the Iraq War, but even more it’s about moving
beyond it. And we’re not going to be safe in a world of unconven-
tional threats with the same old conventional thinking that got us
into Iraq.
Barack proposed setting a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in

the world, saying America should greatly reduce its stockpiles to lower
the threat of nuclear terrorism. He added, ‘‘We will not pursue unilat-
eral disarmament … the best way to keep America safe is not to
threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons. It’s to keep nuclear weapons
and nuclear materials away from terrorists.’’63
Senator Clinton won the New Hampshire Primary on January 8,
2008. In his concession speech that night, Barack spoke about the
primary and the issues of the day. On Iraq, he said,
And when I am President, we will end this war in Iraq and bring our
troops home; we will finish the job against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan;
we will care for our veterans; we will restore our moral standing in
the world; and we will never use 9/11 as a way to scare up votes,
because it is not a tactic to win an election, it is a challenge that
should unite America and the world against the common threats of
the twenty-first century: terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate
change and poverty; genocide and disease.64
In February 2006, Barack spoke on the Senate floor about energy

security and its relation to national security. He said,
On the Issues 139
[E]very single hour we spend $18 million on foreign oil. It doesn’t

matter if these countries are budding democracies, despotic regimes,
or havens for the madrassas that plant the seeds of terror in young
minds—they get our money because we need their oil. One need
only glance at headlines around the world to understand how danger-
ous this addictive arrangement truly is.65
NOTES
2007.
2. Karen E. Crummy, ‘‘Obama: ‘‘The Country Calls Us,’’ Denver Post, March 19,
2007, 1b.
3. Ibid.
4. Jim Spencer, ‘‘Obama Needs Inspiration to Get His Optimism Across,’’ Denver Post,
March 19, 2007.
5. Marc Royse, ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama,’’ O, the Oprah Magazine, November
2004, 248.
6. David Sirota, ‘‘Mr. Obama Goes to Washington,’’ The Nation, June 26, 2006,
http://www.thenation.com (accessed May 23, 2008).
8. Jennifer Hunter, ‘‘Obama Brushes Off Race Question,’’ Chicago Sun Times, Decem-
ber 2, 2007, http://www.suntimes.com (accessed December 7, 2007).
9. ‘‘Day 2 of ‘Oprahpalooza’ begins in SC,’’ Associated Press, December 9, 2007,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed December 10, 2007).
10. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘Obama Plays Offense,’’ Newsweek, February 4, 2008, 32.
2007.
12. Karen DeYoung, ‘‘Obama and Romney Lay Out Positions on Iraq and Beyond,’’
Washington Post, May 31, 2007, A10.
13. Obama, ‘‘Renewing American Leadership.’’
14. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘Obama Finds His Moment,’’ Time, December 10, 2007, 41.
15. Ellen McGirt, ‘‘The Brand Called Obama,’’ Fast Company, April 2008, 92.
16. Larry Rohter, ‘‘Obama Says Real-Life Experience Trumps Rivals’ Foreign Policy
Credits,’’ New York Times, April 10, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed April
10, 2008).
17. Joe Klein, ‘‘Petraeus Meets His Match,’’ Time, April 21, 2008, 29.
18. Richard Wolffe, ‘‘America Can Be A Force (for) Good in the World,’’ Newsweek,
April 21, 2008, 24.
19. Maria Bartiromo, ‘‘Facetime with Barack Obama,’’ Business Week Online, April 3,
2008, http://www.businessweek.com (accessed April 3, 2008).
20. Borys Krawczeniuk, ‘‘Interview with Barack Obama,’’ Scranton Times-Tribune, April
21, 2008, http://www.timesshamrock.com (accessed April 21, 2008).
21. Barack Obama Web site, http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare (accessed

May 29, 2008).
22. ‘‘Where’s the Beef ?’’ The Economist, April 14, 2007, 36.
23. Sirota, ‘‘Mr. Obama Goes to Washington.’’
24. Larissa MacFarquhar, ‘‘The Conciliator,’’ New Yorker, May 7, 2007, http://www.
newyorker.com (accessed December 18, 2007).
25. ‘‘Obama Would Tax Wealthy to Pay for Universal Health Care,’’ CNN, May 30,
2007, http://cnn.worldnews (accessed May 30, 2007).
26. Alter, ‘‘Obama Plays Offense.’’
27. Ronald Roach, ‘‘Obama Rising,’’ Black Issues in Higher Education, October 7, 2004,
20–23.
28. Ibid.
2007, A17.
30. Ruth Marcus, ‘‘From Barack Obama, Two Dangerous Words,’’ Washington Post,
July 11, 2007, A15.
31. Barack Obama, ‘‘Remarks: New Hampshire Primary,’’ January 8, 2008, http://
thepage.time.com (accessed January 9, 2008).
32. Peter S. Canellos, ‘‘On Affirmative Action, Obama Intriguing but Vague,’’ Boston
Globe, April 29, 2008, http://www.boston.com (accessed April 29, 2008).
33. Abdon M. Pallasch, ‘‘Democratic Primary: Obama Urges Parents to Limit Child-
ren’s Video Game Time,’’ Chicago Sun Times, May 1, 2008, http://www.suntimes.
com (accessed May 1, 2008).
34. Amanda Griscom, ‘‘Muckraker,’’ Salon, August 6, 2004, http://dir.salon.com/story/
opinion/feature/2004/08/06/muck_obama/print.html (accessed May 29, 2008).
35. Ibid.
36. ‘‘Remarks by Senator Barack Obama on Energy Independence and the Safety of
Our Planet, Chicago, Illinois,’’ April 3, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov/speech
(accessed May 29, 2008).
37. Joe Klein, ‘‘The Fresh Face,’’ Time, October 23, 2006, 44.
38. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘The Candor Candidate,’’ Time, June 11, 2007, 33–34.
39. Amanda Griscom Little, ‘‘Obama on Energy for ’08,’’ Salon, August 27, 2007,
http://www.salon.com (accessed May 29, 2008).
41. Margaret E. Dorsey and Miguel Diaz-Barriga, ‘‘Senator Barack Obama and Immi-
gration Reform,’’ Journal of Black Studies, July 18, 2007, http://jbs.sagepub.com/
cgi/content/abstract/38/1/90 (accessed July 31, 2007).
42. ‘‘Floor Statement by Senator Barack Obama Employment Verification Amendment
for the Immigration Bill,’’ May 23, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov/speech (accessed
May 29, 2008).
43. Lizza, ‘‘Above the Fray,’’ 409.
44. John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm
Publishers, 2008), 70.
45. ‘‘Floor Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Amendment Requiring a Photo
ID to Vote,’’ May 24, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov/speech (accessed May 29,
2008).
On the Issues 141
46. Floor statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Federal Marriage Amendment,’’
June 5, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov/speech (accessed May 29, 2008).
47. Ibid.
48. Barack Obama Web site, ‘‘Obama ’08,’’ http://my.barackobama.com (accessed October
3, 2007).
49. Wikisource contributors, ‘‘Barack Obama’s Iraq Speech,’’ Wikisource, The Free Library,
http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title¼Barack_Obama%27s_Iraq_Speech&oldid¼
626318 (accessed May 9, 2008).
50. Remnick, ‘‘Testing the Waters.’’
51. Margaret Carlson, ‘‘For Obama, It’s Public Character That Counts,’’ Bloomberg
News, January 4, 2007, http://www.blooomberg.com (accessed January 4, 2007).
52. ‘‘Profile: Barack Obama,’’ BBC News, January 12, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk
(accessed January 12, 2007).
53. Jeffrey Goldberg, ‘‘The Starting Gate,’’ New Yorker, January 15, 2007, http://
54. Frank Rich, ‘‘Stop Him Before He Gets More Experience,’’ New York Times, Febru-
ary 11, 2007, 4.12.
55. Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Formally Enters Presidential Race with
56. Dan Balz, ‘‘With Campaign Underway, Obama Now Must Show More than Poten-
tial,’’ Washington Post, February 13, 2007, A09.
57. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘As Candidate, Obama Carves Antiwar Stance,’’ New York Times, Feb-
ruary 26, 2007.
58. Ibid.
59. Tom Baxter and Saeed Ahemed, ‘‘20,000 Turn Out for Obama,’’ Atlanta Journal
Constitution, April 14, 2007, http://www.ajc.com (accessed April 15, 2007).
60. Patrick Healy, ‘‘Obama Disputes Claim of Sharing Clinton’s Stance on War,’’ New
York Times, May 18, 2007, A22.
61. John Whitesides, ‘‘Obama, Clinton Side with Anti-War Democrats,’’ Yahoo News,
May 25, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070525 (accessed May 25, 2007).
62. Obama, ‘‘Renewing American Leadership.’’
63. Jeff Zeleny, ‘‘Obama Highlights His War Opposition,’’ New York Times, October 2,
2007, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed October 2, 2007).
64. Obama, ‘‘Remarks: New Hampshire Primary.’’
65. ‘‘Remarks of Senator Barack Obama, Governor’s Ethanol Coalition, Energy Security
is National Security,’’ February 28, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov/speech (accessed
May 29, 2008).
CHAPTER 7
The Youth Vote in the
2008 Campaign
‘‘It’s not that ordinary people have forgotten how to dream. It’s
just that their leaders have forgotten how.’’1
Introduction
Barack and his Democratic rival in the 2008 presidential race, Senator
Hillary Clinton, were the favored candidates of younger Americans,
according to a poll conducted by CBS News, The New York Times, and
MTV, in June 2007. The poll results suggested that 18% said they were
enthusiastic about Barack, and 17% were enthusiastic about Hillary Clin-
ton; this was more than the Republican candidates with a total of 8%. Of
Republican primary voters, 8% were excited about Barack. The poll also
suggested that nearly eight in ten younger Americans think their genera-
tion would have a lot or some impact on who the next president would
be, and six in ten said they were paying a lot or some attention to the
campaign. Of those polled, most said that the 2008 presidential election
was the most important, or one of the most important, in their lifetime.2
Since 2004, one characteristic of the 18-to 24-year-old voters is that
they are more committed to the electoral process and politics in gen-
eral. In the 2004 election, and in the primaries and caucuses held for
the 2008 election, young voters have turned out in great numbers.
Throughout his political career, Barack has included younger voters in
his campaigns and has been able to bring in a new generation of voters.
In 1992, he led a movement in Chicago called Project Vote, which
registered 150,000 new voters. In the 2008 campaign, Barack and his
political team have motivated youth to volunteer and to vote like no
other candidate in history. He has tapped into what matters to the
young voters in America by utilizing the Internet and social networking
sites. His appeal to the youth in America is just one phenomenon of
his campaign.
Caroline Kennedy, who endorsed Barack and appeared at several
campaign rallies with him, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York
Times entitled, ‘‘A President Like My Father.’’ She wrote, ‘‘Senator
Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that
sense of possibility.’’3
In Time magazine, Caroline Kennedy, referring to her three teen-
agers, wrote, ‘‘They were the first people who made me realize that Bar-
ack Obama is the President we need.’’4
According to PBS commentator Bill Moyers, ‘‘Obama represents a
generational metaphor. He opens up new gates so that younger people
can feel that there’s opportunity for them, that they can come in with
him and create new possibilities.’’5
In his speech announcing his intention of running for president in
the 2008 election, Barack said, ‘‘Each and every time, a new generation
has risen up and done what’s needed to be done. Today we are called
once more—and it is time for our generation to answer that call.’’ In
the speech, Barack used the word ‘‘generation’’ no fewer than 13 times.
According to The Nation magazine, his campaign theme is ‘‘It’s time
for the old to move over and make way for the new.’’6
Roger Cohen, columnist for the New York Times, wrote a column on
January 28, 2008 entitled ‘‘Obama’s Youth-Driven Movement’’ and stated
‘‘something is stirring in the U.S.A … a political campaign has become
a movement with Barack Obama at its head.’’ Cohen wrote about a
twenty-five-year-old student at George Washington University, who
jumped in his car and drove seven hours from Washington, D.C. to cam-
paign for Barack. The man, who was both white and a Republican, said,
It was his all-encompassing message that got to me. I feel uplifted by

him … I’m 25 and for my entire life a Bush or a Clinton has been
in the executive office, either as a vice-president or president. The
United States is not about dynasties.
Cohen also wrote about seven Harvard students who’d driven for sixteen
hours to get out the vote for the candidate. One said, ‘‘I’m here because I
believe Obama has a chance at greatness.’’ Another Harvard student said,
Clinton is what our country has been. She’s not where we’re going,
which is more diverse, more global, with fewer expectations about
what it means to be black or white. Obama gets this from his
upbringing.7
A New Hampshire lawyer told the Boston Globe after an Obama

event: ‘‘I just turned 30, and the only politics I’ve known have been
divisive. I’m ready for a new kind of politics, and I hope he’s the one
who can deliver it.’’8
The February 11, 2008 cover story of Time was ‘‘Why Young Voters
Care Again,’’ and included a subtitle, ‘‘And Why Their Vote Matters.’’
The magazine noted that although youth participation increased in the
2004 election, in the 2008 election, ‘‘There seems to a youthquake.

Young people sense that they are coming of age at a time when leader-
ship—and their role in choosing it—really matters.’’ Barack has been
the catalyst, the magazine says, and also the beneficiary of greater youth
involvement.9
‘‘I am a believer that change can happen,’’ says Patricia Griffin, twenty-
five, a student at St. Louis Community College. ‘‘So-called Washington
experience has given us an unjustified war, an economy slipping, the dol-
lar losing its value, health care impossible to afford. I’m telling my friends
they can make a difference this time. They can vote.’’10
A Republican college student drove three hours to hear Barack speak in
Iowa. She declared, ‘‘Barack’s attitude is awesome … Barack’s the only
Democrat I’d vote for.’’11
The Obama campaign created MyBo, their own social networking
tool, through which supporters can organize themselves however they
see fit. The network claims more than half a million members and
more than 8,000 affinity groups; some are organized by state (Ohioans
for Obama!!), some by profession (Texas Business Women for Obama),
and others by ‘‘groove thing’’ (Soul Music Lovers for Obama). Accord-
ing to Joe Rospars, the campaign’s twenty-six-year-old director of new
media who served as one of Howard Dean’s chief online organizers,
‘‘We put these tools online as a public utility. We said to our support-
ers, ‘Have at it.’ ’’ According to Rospars, that allowed supporters to
mobilize on their own, which they did in unprecedented numbers.
Before long, the campaign transformed hundreds of thousands of
online donors into street-level activists. Donna Brazile, Al Gore’s cam-
paign manager and a member of the Democratic National Committee,
noted, ‘‘Obama didn’t just take their money. He gave them seats at the
table and allowed them to become players.’’ Barack’s campaign also
hired Steve Hildebrand as a strategist. ‘‘Steve Hildebrand, in shaping
the campaign strategy from the outset, saw that there was an amazing
opportunity here with Barack and young people,’’ said Hans Riemer,
the campaign’s youth-vote director. Riemer noted that turnout has been
astonishing among young people and that the youth vote has at least
doubled and often tripled previous records in a number of the primary
and caucus contests. ‘‘When I arrived at the Obama campaign, there
were 175 Students for Barack Obama chapters already inexistence.’’
The chapters started on Facebook in 2006 before moving into a
sophisticated grass-roots organization. ‘‘My responsibility was to nur-

ture it and work with them on their political strategy.’’12
In March 2008, Barack was endorsed by Senator Bob Casey of Penn-
sylvania in advance of the April 22, 2008 Democratic primary. Senator
Casey decided to endorse Barack because of his ‘‘ability to bring dispar-
ate groups together and transcend some of these racial and other kinds
of divides.’’ Casey also noted that his four daughters were Barack sup-
porters and were on his case to support him, too. Not that they dic-
tated to him, he said, but he was paying attention. He wondered why
are these kids, who are not very political, so interested? Casey said, ‘‘He
[Barack] does have the ability to light up a younger generation.’’13
In an article entitled ‘‘The Brand Called Obama,’’ which appeared in
the April 2008 edition of Fast Company magazine, Keith Reinhard, chair-
man emeritus of DDB Worldwide, noted, ‘‘Barack Obama is three things
you want in a brand. New, different, and attractive. That’s as good as it
gets.’’ The article notes that Barack has his greatest strength among the
young, roughly eighteen to twenty-nine years old, that advertisers covet,
the cohort known as millennials—who will outnumber the baby boomers
by 2010. What they share—new media, online social networks—is one
place the Obama campaign has excelled. Barack deftly embraced and has
been embraced by the Internet and has ‘‘been exceptionally successful at
converting online clicks into real-world currency: rallies in the heartland,
videos on YouTube, and most important, donations and votes.’’ The cam-
paign’s website is ‘‘far more dynamic than any of the others and features
constant updates, videos, photos, ringtones, widgets, and events to give
supporters a reason to come back to the site.’’ According to Andrew
Rasieg, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, a website that explores
how technology is changing politics, ‘‘This is where the Obama campaign
has been strategic and smart. They’ve made sure the message machine was
providing the message where people were already assembled. They’ve
turned themselves into a media organization.’’14
On May 25, 2008, Barack spoke at the Wesleyan University’s Com-
mencement, replacing Senator Edward Kennedy who had fallen ill. In
his address to the graduating class, their families and friends, Barack
talked about national service and said,
I ask you to seek these opportunities when you leave here, because
the future of this country—your future—depends on it. At a time
when our security and moral standing depend on winning hearts and
minds in the forgotten corners of this world, we need more of you to
serve abroad. As President, I intend to grow the Foreign Service,
double the Peace Corps over the next few years, and engage the
young people of other nations in similar programs, so that we work
side by side to take on the common challenges that confront all
humanity … I am asking you, and if I should have the honor of serv-
ing this nation as President, I will be asking you again in the coming
years. We may disagree on certain issues and positions, but I believe
we can be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a
cause of my presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this gen-
eration is ready, and eager, and up to the challenge.15
NOTES
1. Lisa Rogak, ed., Barack Obama, In His Own Words (New York: Carroll & Graf
2. ‘‘Young Voters Favor Obama, Clinton,’’ CBS News, June 26, 2007, http://
www.cbsnews.com (accessed June 26, 2007).
3. Caroline Kennedy, ‘‘A President Like My Father,’’ New York Times, January 27,
2008, WK.18.
4. David Von Drehle, ‘‘It’s Their Turn Now,’’ Time, February 11, 2008, 36.
5. John K. Wilson, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm
6. Lakshmi Chaudhry, ‘‘Will the Real Generation Obama Please Stand Up?’’ The
Nation, November 15, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation (accessed Novem-
ber 16, 2007). Article appeared in the December 3, 2007 edition of The Nation.
7. Roger Cohen, ‘‘Obama’s Youth-Drive Movement,’’ New York Times, January 28,
2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed January 28, 2008).
8. Wilson, Obama: This Improbable Quest, 13.
9. Richard Stengel, ‘‘Democracy Reborn,’’ Time, February 11, 2008, 6.
10. Von Drehle, ‘‘It’s Their Turn Now,’’ 48.
11. Wilson, Obama: This Improbable Quest, 13.
12. Tim Dickinson, ‘‘The Machinery of Hope,’’ Rolling Stone, March 20, 2008, 38.
13. Katherine Q. Seelye, ‘‘The Casey Endorsement,’’ New York Times, March 28, 2008,
14. Ellen McGirt, ‘‘The Brand Called Obama,’’ Fast Company, April 2008, 87–88.
15. Barack Obama, ‘‘Transcript of Obama’s Wesleyan Commencement Address,’’
WFSB.com. May 25, 2008, http://www.wfsb.com (accessed May 25, 2008).
CHAPTER 8
On Race and Faith
‘‘I am comfortable in my own skin.’’1
‘‘I am rooted in the African-American community. But I’m not

limited by it.’’2
‘‘As a teen, I had this divided identity—one inside the home,

one for the outside world. It wasn’t until I got to college that I
started realizing that was fundamentally dishonest. I knew there
had to be a different way for me to understand myself as a
black man and yet not reject the love and values given to me
by my mother and her parents. I had to reconcile that I could
be proud of my African-American heritage and yet not be
limited by it.’’3
‘‘I feel confident that if you put me in a room with anybody—

black, white, Hispanic, Republican, Democrat—give me half
an hour and I will walk out with the votes of most of the folks.
I don’t feel constrained by race, geography, or background in
terms of making a connection with people.’’4
‘‘We need to take faith seriously not simply to block the reli-
gious right but to engage all persons of faith in the larger
project of American renewal.’’5
Introduction
In the article ‘‘The Great Black Hope’’ in the November 2004 issue of
Washington Monthly, editor Benjamin Wallace-Wells wrote that it is
often said America is not ready for a black president. He wrote that it
is true that most of today’s most prominent African American politi-
cians would have a hard time winning large numbers of white votes,
both because of lingering racial resentments and a sense among whites
that black politicians do not necessarily share their values and interests.
Yet, Wallace-Wells writes, there are a few black politicians for whom
their race is not a ball-and-chain, but instead, a jet engine, that
launches them into stardom. For a small group of politicians, race has
been an advantage because whites see in them confirmation that
America, finally, is working. Author Wallace-Wells continues to say that
to require politicians to transcend both race and ideology is an almost
impossible standard, and one that white politicians need not meet at
all. A prominent Virginia Democratic fundraiser was quoted in the arti-
cle: ‘‘As wonderful as Barack is, the one thing you wonder is if we
haven’t made him out to be something more than it’s possible for him
to be. So much is expected of him.’’ When America looked at Barack,
Wallace-Wells notes, they saw a political character that they’d never
quite encountered before. He was black, but not quite. He spoke white,
with the hand-gestures of a management consultant, but also used the
oratorical flourishes of a black preacher. In the speech at the Demo-
cratic National Convention, the author notes that Barack made himself
as hard to peg politically as he had been racially, casting himself as a
politician who did not proffer typically liberal solutions to cultural
problems. He notes that Barack said in the speech that ‘‘Parents have to
teach, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and
turn off the televisions sets and eradicate the slander that says a black
youth with a book is acting white.’’ Barack closed the address, ‘‘There’s
not a liberal America and a conservative America … a black America
and a white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s
the United States of America. The pundits like to slice and dice our
country into red states and blue states … But I’ve got news for them,
too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like
federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states.’’ Author
Wallace-Wells wrote that the pressure would be on Barack from the

moment he is sworn in as a senator, that he will be in a position like
none of his colleagues. His every move would be scanned for signs that
he is preparing for a presidential run and that even among his most
passionate supporters, there’s a concern that before he runs, he should
learn to walk. There is an emerging market for a certain kind of black
president, he writes, the fulfillment of which will be both harder, and
potentially more powerful, than any we have seen before, and that the
chances are, somewhere in America, there is a person watching Barack’s
career carefully, and dreaming.6
On Race
We as a black community are struggling with our own identity and

what it means to be black. We see what is shown of us on TV but
we also know that is not the full picture. So what is the picture?
We’re figuring it out. It’s a conversation that needs to take place.
Michelle Obama, in response to the persistent
questions about Barack’s roots7
Nobody tells the story of the American dream better than

Obama.
David Ignatius, columnist, Washington Post8
The secret to Martin Luther King was that he flattered white

Americans that you are better than you think you are. The very
essence of Obama’s appeal is the idea that he represents racial
idealism—the idea that race is something that America can tran-
scend. That’s a very appealing idea. A lot of Americans would
truly love to find a black candidate they could comfortably vote
for President of the United States.
Shelby Steele, Stanford University’s Hoover Institution9
Although Barack has said that he settled his own struggle with racial
identity in his late teens and the questions about his authenticity were
not new to him, he felt the debate over the issue of race was more
about America’s state of mind than it was about him and his candidacy.
From his earliest days as a politician, Barack has made a career out of
reconciling opposing sides. He’s been able to assuage some conservative

whites who have been surprised by his lack of grievance and encouraged
by his pragmatism. And he has accomplished that, for the most part,
without alienating African American supporters. As only the third African
American ever to hold a seat in the U.S. Senate, Barack represents the
emergence of a new generation of national political leaders. His keynote
speech at the Democratic National Convention placed him in the national
spotlight. Dr. Ronald Walters, a political scientist at the University of
Maryland, wrote the following of Barack and the speech:
He was put there to support the ticket, to hit the themes, and he did
his job. And on that he got, I think, an accolade of a rising star and
so forth. I tend to think that speech was one that tried to identify
[Obama] as a non-racial politician that tried to connect with his
immigrant roots, and tried to meet the theme of diversity that was
thrust upon him. It was a theme that went over great with everybody
in the convention—Blacks, Whites, everyone … I would call him a
liberal Democratic politician in terms of the kind of measures that
he has supported—basic family-oriented measures, civil rights-
oriented. To that extent, the profile of his agenda is very much
compatible with the needs of the Black community.10
Sociologist Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at

Virginia Tech, stated that in America, barriers still exist, but they do
not necessarily have the same meaning as even a decade ago, adding
‘‘Because people are exposed to different races, ethnicities and sexual
orientations in their workplace, in their neighborhoods, in their com-
munities, they are much more comfortable … what used to make them
raise their eyebrows now makes them shrug their shoulders.’’11
In his memoir Dreams from My Father, Barack wrote that it might
have been because of growing up in Hawaii instead of on the more dif-
ficult streets and neighborhoods that left him without the feeling of
needing to ‘‘escape.’’ For him, there was nothing he had to escape
except his own inner doubt. Over time, Barack succeeded in coming to
terms with his race, with his absent father, and came to know clearly
his ambitions and his calling. Still, when he announced his campaign
for the presidency, the issue of racism in America bubbled up once
again. At first, black voters appeared less than enthusiastic. One
explanation was that African Americans did not believe Barack was
representative of them, being the son of a Kenyan man and a white
American woman. Many black voters were not eagerly or naturally
gravitating to him as some may have first thought. There were some
who were questioning his ‘‘blackness,’’ asking if was he ‘‘black enough’’
to be their candidate. Barack is African and he is an American, but he
is not an African American. Since his ancestors did not come to
America on slave ships, this sets him apart from many blacks in
America. In addition, some African Americans wondered if he was
‘‘real,’’ if he could actually run a campaign and be taken seriously. It
was only after winning the Iowa Caucus that many African Americans
felt they could support Barack, that he was in fact real, and that by
being accepted by voters in Iowa, voters all across America would look
at him as a candidate that has something to say, and not viewed only as
an African American candidate so different from all the other African
Americans that had run for president before.
In his second book, Audacity of Hope, Barack wrote,
To say that we are one people is not to suggest that race no longer
matters—that the fight for equality has been won, or that the
problems that minorities face in this country today are largely self-
inflicted. We know the statistics … to suggest that our racial atti-
tudes play no part in these disparities is to turn a blind eye to both
our history and our experience—and to relieve ourselves of the
responsibility to make things right … while my own upbringing
hardly typifies the African-American experience … I now occupy a
position that insulates me from most of the bumps and bruises that
the average black man must endure—I can recite the usual litany of
petty slights that during my forty-five years have been directed my
way: security guards tailing me as I shop in department stores,
white couples who toss me their car keys as I stand outside a restau-
rant waiting for the valet, police cars pulling me over for no appa-
rent reason. I know what it’s like to have people tell me I can’t do
something because of my color, and I know the bitter swill of swal-
lowed-back anger.12
When it was announced that Barack had been elected the president
of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, the first African American to
hold the spot in its 104-year history, he was inundated with newspaper
and magazine reporters. In the interviews, he was modest in his
responses and careful with his answers. In one interview, Barack said,
The fact that I’ve been elected shows a lot of progress. It’s encourag-
ing. But it’s important that stories like mine aren’t used to say that
everything is O.K. for blacks. You have to remember that for every
one of me, there are hundreds or thousands of black students with at
least equal talent who don’t get a chance.13
Barack’s first campaign was running for president of the Harvard Law
Review. The voters were mostly white and at the time, the school was
torn over racial issues including affirmative action. There was anger at
the failure to appoint African American professors. There was also dis-
may at the influence of liberal scholars who condemned the criminal-
justice system as skewed against minorities and the poor. Amid all of
this, Barack was elected with the support of a block of conservative stu-
dents. His former classmate Bradford Berenson, who later served in
George W. Bush’s White House, said, ‘‘What really set him apart from
the people who had roughly the same views he did is that he did not
demonize the people on the other side of the dispute. He was not the
sort to accuse people of being racist for having different views of affirm-
ative action.’’14
Many African Americans come from different backgrounds and the
issue of blackness or a singular experience is difficult to explain or
understand. Barack noted,
My view has always been that I’m African-American. African-Americans

by definition, we’re a hybrid people. One of the things I loved about
my mother was not only did she not feel rejected by me defining
myself as an African-American, but she recognized that I was a black
man in the United States and my experiences were going to be differ-
ent than hers.15
In late April 2004, while campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Barack
attended the Will/Grundy County Annual AFL-CIO Dinner to make a
pitch for his candidacy. When Barack took the stage, he introduced
himself as he often does, as the ‘‘skinny guy from the South Side,’’ and
noticeably moved the audience when he spoke about various issues.
Shortly after his speech, two middle-aged men, who identified them-
selves as officials from the local branch of the American Federal of
State, County and Municipal Employees, spoke about Barack’s speech.
The first man noted it was the first time he had seen Barack in person
and that he especially liked the fact that Barack did not put anyone
down, even Republicans. The second man said, ‘‘The thing about
Obama is that there are no racial lines, there are no party lines. He
reaches everybody.’’ Author Noam Scheiber, who described the speech,
also noted in his article that ‘‘The power of Obama’s exotic background
to neutralize race as an issue, combined with his elite education and his
credential as the first African-American Harvard Law Review president,
made him an African American candidate who was not stereotypically
African-American.’’ Pollster Mark Blumenthal said of Barack,
[Obama] is not stereotypically anything. He’s different. He’s different

because he’s biracial. He’s a different generation. He’s different in
terms of qualifications than nine of ten people who run for office.16
In November 2004, Barack appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. He

was asked what he wanted to do with his politics. The first thing he said
was, ‘‘I want to make real the American ideal that every child in this
country has a shot at life.’’ And the second and companion goal was:
I’m well situated to help the country understand how we can both
celebrate our diversity in all its complexity and still affirm our com-
mon bonds. That will be the biggest challenge, not just for this
country but for the entire planet. How do we say we’re different yet
the same? … Of course, there will be times when we’ll argue about
our difference, but we have to build a society on the belief that you
are more like me than different from me. That you know your fears,
your hopes, your love for your child are the same as what I feel.
Maybe I can help with that because I’ve got so many different pieces
in me.17
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune in June 2005, Barack was

asked what the most important racial issue is facing the country now.
Barack responded, ‘‘Education. There is no denying that while individ-
ual African-American students are doing wonderful and achieving at
the highest levels, in the aggregate African-American students are still
behind at every level.’’ When asked about his own life experience and
education being vastly different from the majority, Barack answered,
I’m only one generation away from a parent who learned in a tin-
roof shack in the backwoods of Kenya, not that different from a one-
room, tin-roof schoolhouse in South Carolina or Mississippi …
Growing up I absorbed a lot of negative stereotypes about how I
should behave as a black teenager and fell into some of the same
traps that a lot of black male youth do. It wasn’t preordained that I
go to Columbia or to Harvard. I didn’t have a father in the house,
which meant that I didn’t have a lot of role models in terms of how I
should operate.
When asked if America was ready for a black president, Barack said,
‘‘Yes. I think an African-American candidate, if he’s the best candidate,
can be president.’’18
Jonathan Alter interviewed Barack in December 2006 for Newsweek
magazine. Alter asked Barack about how crowds react to him, why he is
striking such a chord in America, and whether this reaction is genera-
tional. Barack said that politics have been grounded in debates over the
1960s and the counter backlash within the Democratic Party against
the 1960s. His peer group, Barack answered, finds that many of those
divisions are unproductive and they see many problems differently, on
race, faith, the economy, foreign policy, and the role of the military.
Barack added,
Part of the reason the next generation can see things differently is
because of the battles that the previous generation fought. But the
next generation is to some degree liberated from what I call the
either/or arguments around these issues. So on race, the classic ‘60s
formulation was, ‘‘is it society and institutional racism that’s causing
black poverty or is it black pathology and a culture of poverty?’’ And
you couldn’t choose ‘‘all of the above.’’ It looks to me like both. [The
younger generation] is much less caught up in these neatly packaged
orthodoxies.19
Before Barack announced his candidacy for president, his appeal to

blacks was an open question. Attending a luncheon in Chicago in Janu-
ary 2007, the Reverend B. Herbert Martin expressed both satisfaction
and concern after listening to Barack speak. As the only black person in
the otherwise white audience who applauded Barack’s speech, the Rev-
erend said he was thrilled that Barack could engender such enthusiasm
from the audience because it offered further proof that he would be a
formidable presidential candidate, but he also worried that in order to
run successfully, Barack would have to become a different kind of poli-
tician than the one who earned the trust of voters on Chicago’s mostly
black south side as a state legislator before he was elected to the U.S.
Senate in 2004. Martin said, ‘‘How does he identify himself? Will he
continue to be an African-American, or will he become some of kind
of new creation?’’ Melissa V. Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University
professor who followed Barack’s rising political career, said that Barack
may be forced to choose:
You can be elected president as a black person only if you signal at

some level that you are independent from black people. He is going
to have to figure out whether there is a way not to alienate and anger
a black base that almost by definition is going to be disappointed.
Reverend Martin asked,
Who does he represent? That is what people are worried about.

When you look and see who is surrounding him, you are not going
to see too many brothers. What you see is the liberal left.20
On February 11, 2007, Barack appeared on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Inter-

viewer Steve Kroft raised the issue that ‘‘there are African-Americans
who don’t think that you’re black enough, who don’t think that you
have had the required experience.’’ Barack answered:
When I’m walking down the South Side of Chicago and visiting my
barbershop and playing basketball in some of these neighborhoods,
those aren’t questions I get asked. I also notice when I’m catching a
cab. Nobody’s confused about that either … If you look African-
American in this society, you’re treated as an African-American, and
when you’re a child, in particular, that is how you begin to identify
yourself. It’s interesting though, that now I feel very comfortable and
confident in terms of who I am and where I stake my ground. But I
notice that … I’ve become a focal point for a racial debate.21
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found Barack ‘‘appealing’’ and

said it would not be much longer before race was not a barrier to
becoming president. As a top-tier contender among Democrats, his
wide support in the 2008 race ‘‘just shows that we’ve come a very long
way,’’ she said in February 2007. Rice said that Barack is a member of
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where she often testifies. She
noted,
I do think we’ve come a long way in overcoming stereotypes, role ster-

eotypes about African-Americans. I will say race is still a factor. When a
person walks into a room, I still think people still see race. I think he’s
very appealing and a great person. He’s on my committee. And we’ve
always had a good exchange. I think he’s an extraordinary person.22
There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that the 2008 race for the
White House was historic; the race had the face of a changing America.
The presidential field was filled with the kinds of candidates who would
not have had a chance in years past, and polls conducted in early 2007
showed that voters were more open than ever before to groundbreakers.
In 2008, the first woman ever may have been elected president; or it may
have been the first Mormon, or the first black, the first Hispanic, the first
Italian-American, the first thrice-married man, or the first person over 70.
After 218 years and forty-two presidents, all white and male, the field of
candidates included credible candidates whose race, gender, ethnicity, reli-
gion, or personal history probably would have ruled them out in the past.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll found that only one in five Americans were
‘‘completely comfortable’’ with all of the breakthrough traits represented
by the leading contenders in the 2008 field of candidates. Nearly one
third had reservations about most of them. The poll found that women
were no more likely than men to be comfortable voting for a woman;
women over fifty were among the most skeptical of all. Blacks were no
more likely than whites to be comfortable voting for a black. And seniors
were less likely than the middle-aged to be comfortable voting for a
seventy-two-year-old to become president. Steve Gillon, resident historian of
The History Channel and a professor at the University of Oklahoma said,
Presidential elections won’t lead the way; they’ll follow the change. In
our presidential elections, we tend to elect figures who are reassuring.
The election of a woman president or an African-American president

will be the last hurdle, not the first.23
In April 2007, Barack appeared at a meeting of black political organ-

izers and said African Americans had been ‘‘complicit in diminishing
ourselves,’’ stating,
I’ve heard those words around the kitchen tables. All of us have been
complicit in diminishing ourselves and engaging in the kind of self-
hatred that keeps our young men and young women down. That’s
something we have to talk about in this election.
He added that he did not want the black vote simply because he was
black, because that is not what America is about. ‘‘I want it to be
because of what I’ve done, and how I’ve lived, and the principles I
stand for, and the ideas I promote.’’ Although this crowd of organizers
warmly received him, the reception was not a rousing success.24
In May 2007, Barack received Secret Service protection, earlier than
any other presidential candidate, excluding Senator Hillary Clinton,
who received Secret Service protection as a former first lady. Concerns
about his safety led to Barack receiving Secret Service detail. Senator
Dick Durbin of Illinois said the early protection ‘‘had a lot to do with
race. I wished we lived in a country where that is not a problem, but it
still is. The fact that Barack Obama is such a highly visible African
American candidate, I think increases his vulnerability.’’ House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, Democrat from California, said, ‘‘I would just say this—
the bipartisan leadership committee makes this decision, it didn’t take
long to decide that it would be important for Senator Obama to have
this security.’’ She did not share details, but added, ‘‘Suffice to say that it
was self-evident that Senator Obama attracts a great deal of attention
wherever he goes, so it was thought, under those circumstances, that he
should have it.’’ In response to the Secret Service detail on her husband,
a spokesperson for Michelle Obama said, ‘‘The family is thankful for the
protection and the peace of mind that the Secret Service is providing.’’25
Ron Walters, professor of government and politics at the University
of Maryland, wrote in the Journal of Black Studies in July 2007 about
Barack’s universalistic perspective on policy issues. In an interview on
National Public Radio in 2007, Barack said,
There has always been some tension between speaking in universal

terms and speaking in very race-specific terms about the plight of the
African-American community. By virtue of my background, I am
more likely to speak in universal terms.
A contrasting view of Barack was noted from an interview with

Representative Bobby Rush of Chicago (whom Barack ran against in
his first unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House of Representatives), when
Rush stated, ‘‘I’m a race politician and he’s not. I don’t compromise. I
don’t step back. I don’t try to deny. I’m proud to be an African-
American.’’26
When Steve Kroft of CBS News asked Barack in 2007 how impor-
tant race was to his identity when he was growing up and at what point
he decided he was black, Barack responded, ‘‘Well, I’m not sure I
decided it. I think, you know, if you look African-American in this
society, you’re treated as an African-American … that is how you
identify yourself.’’27
Writing in the American Prospect magazine, author Terence Samuel
stated,
[Obama] is in many ways the full flowering of a strain of up-tempo,

non-grievance, American-Dream-In-Color politics. His counterparts
are young, Ivy League professionals, heirs to the civil-rights move-
ment who are determined to move beyond both the mood and the
methods of their forebears.
Angela Davis, professor of history of consciousness at the University

of California, Santa Cruz, wrote,
[Obama] is being consumed as the embodiment of color blindness.

It’s the notion that we have moved beyond racism by not taking race
into account. That’s what makes him conceivable as a presidential
candidate. He’s become the model of diversity in this period … a
model of diversity as the difference that makes no difference. The
change that brings no change.28
The July 2007 Newsweek cover ‘‘Black and White,’’ reported on

whether Barack, as the nation’s first black president, can appeal to both
blacks and whites while still being true to himself, and stated that he
faced many challenges in what he calls his ‘‘improbable candidacy.’’

The magazine reported that few of the challenges Barack faced were as
complex or as emotional as the politics of race. The cover article noted
that on the day Barack announced his candidacy, Cornel West, the
‘‘brilliant and bombastic scholar’’ lambasted Barack’s campaign. ‘‘He’s
got large numbers of white brothers and sisters who have fears and
anxieties and concerns, and he’s got to speak to them in such a way that
he holds us at arm’s length. So he’s walking this tightrope.’’ West, the
magazine wrote, challenged the candidate to answer a stark set of
questions:
I want to know how deep is your love for the people, what kind of
courage have you manifested in the stances that you have and what
are you willing to sacrifice for. That’s the fundamental question. I
don’t care what color you are. You see, you can’t take black people
for granted just ‘cause you’re black.
A few days later, the article noted, Barack called West in his Princeton
office and the two men later met. A month after questioning the cam-
paign, West endorsed Barack and signed up as an unpaid adviser. Bar-
ack told Newsweek,
I think America is still caught in a little bit of a time warp: the narra-
tive of black politics is still shaped by the ‘60s and black power. That
is not, I think, how most black voters are thinking. I don’t think
that’s how most white voters are think. I think that people are think-
ing about how to find a job, how to fill up the gas tank, how to send
their kids to college. I find that when I talk about those issues, both
blacks and whites respond well.
Newsweek reported that according to their latest poll, race was no

longer the barrier it once was to electing a president. A clear majority—
59 percent—says the country is ready to elect an African American presi-
dent, up from 37 percent at the start of the decade.29
By October 2007, almost 3 months prior to the beginning of the
primary season and before the January 2008 Iowa Caucus, it seemed
that Barack had just about everything going for him. The country was
open to accepting a change in the political climate and Barack had a
new message, a fresh face, and an inspirational message. He was raising
money faster than any Democrat ever had, and from more people,
including about 75,000 new donors. The question was why was his
campaign not gaining ground. The race was historic, in gender and in
race, but the race issue seemed to be more of a delicate challenge.
Would black voters, the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituency,
vote for Barack, when traditionally they had an allegiance to the Clin-
tons? The pollsters showed black voters as deeply divided, with Barack
winning among younger and male African Americans and Hillary
Clinton running stronger among older African American women.
Pollsters also suggested that this could change if Barack’s overall pros-
pects improved. Barack continued to walk a fine line, demonstrating
that he was connected to the African American community without
appearing to have an agenda driven by only that constituency. Donna
Brazile said,
Race is not just an issue in the back of the minds of white voters. It
really is a concern with black voters. They’re worried about whether
the country is ready for a black President. They’re pessimistic … He
has the electability problem with black voters too.
Barack’s advisors stated they were not worried and Barack sharpened his
message with a new, edgier stump speech that included a harder mes-
sage of change.30
In an October 2007 issue of Essence magazine, author and inter-
viewer Gwen Ifill wrote an article about accompanying Barack on the
campaign trail. Ifill wrote about Barack attracting 20,000 people in
Austin, Texas and 15,000 in Oakland, California. In New Hampshire,
Barack had attracted a smaller crowd, in a small town, on a Monday
afternoon. Ifill notes in her article that the high voter engagement at
nearly every stop suggests that voters are taking stock of Barack and
she wonders if the appeal is due to familiarity or to race. Although
Barack’s biracial background may be appealing to some whites because
he seems less black, some blacks could reject him because he seems
white. Ifill cites a quote from Georgetown University professor
Michael Eric Dyson, who calls Barack’s dilemma the ‘‘pigment predi-
cate.’’ He notes, ‘‘At this level, race is trumping gender when it comes
to the discomfort his candidacy might ultimately cause in the
American citizenry. And I think Barack Obama is caught in the crosswinds
of race.’’ Ifill writes that Barack knows full well the tightrope he walks.
Barack said,
What I’ve tried to do is just say what I think and not worry about
whether it’s pleasing a particular audience or not. It is difficult
because what I say oftentimes is read through a filter of racial experi-
ence. That can cause problems. But, you know, I’ve been straddling
this line most of my life.
When asked if it is possible to get past this, Barack answered,
I don’t believe it is possible to transcend race in this country. Race is

a factor in this society. The legacy of Jim Crow and slavery has not
gone away. It is not an accident that African-Americans experience
high crime rates, are poor, and have less wealth. It is a direct result of
our racial history.
Ifill asked Barack directly if he really believed America was ready for a
black president. Barack responded that he felt racial attitudes have
changed sufficiently in this country, that people are willing to vote for
him as president if they believe he can help them on health care, on
education, and on the issues that are important in their lives. He
added,
Now, are there going to be people who don’t vote for me because I
am Black? Absolutely. But I do not believe those are people who
would have voted for me, given my political philosophy, even if I
were White.31
As Barack took his campaign across the country, telling his unique
story of a white mother and a black father and how he has always lived
between two worlds, he seemed to be tapping into a changed racial
landscape among younger white people. Many said they were drawn to
him and his message because they believed his mixed-race background
reflected America’s increasingly diverse population and projected a more
optimistic vision of the country’s racial future. Was his candidacy mak-
ing a turning point in race and politics in America? In an article in The
Wall Street Journal in November 2007, author Jonathan Kaufman wrote
that whether Barack succeeded in winning the nomination or not, he
was prompting significant numbers of white Americans to consider vot-

ing for him, despite his racial background, and perhaps because of it. A
24-year-old white social worker said, ‘‘Because he’s black it makes me
want to believe that he will change things. It feels like you are part of
something that’s starting to change American politics. It’s the cool fac-
tor. He’s a rock star.’’ Bob Tuke, who is white and is the former chair-
man of the Tennessee Democratic Party, said, ‘‘Obama is running an
emancipating campaign. He is emancipating white voters to vote for a
black candidate.’’ Sean Briscoe, a white 24-year-old, said, ‘‘Obama
doesn’t come with the baggage of the civil-rights movement, focusing
entirely on the race issue. He went from Hawaii to Indonesia. He has
been in all these places where you get an appreciation for people who
aren’t like you.’’ Friends say that Barack’s double life and heritage has
affected not just his personality but also his politics. Mary Pattillo, an
African American professor at Northwestern University who has known
Barack for many years, said,
Obama knows this is a majority white country. He is acutely aware

how his discussion of race and racial politics will be interpreted and
received by whites. We who work in the white world are always
mindful of not making whites feel threatened. You can’t get angry as
a black person working in white America. To get a message across,
black professionals are always thinking about the perfect balance of
assertiveness and non-threateningness.
A Wall Street Journal poll published in the November 12, 2007 arti-
cle noted that Barack’s popularity among whites also stirred uneasiness
among many blacks. At the time, he trailed Hillary Clinton among
black voters by 9 percent.32
After the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. primaries on
February 12, 2008, Barack said the following in his victory speech:
We have now won east and west, north and south, and across the
heartland of this country we love. We have given young people a rea-
son to believe, and brought folks back to the polls who want to
believe again. And we are bringing together Democrats and Inde-
pendents and Republicans; blacks and whites; Latinos and Asians;
small states and big states; Red States and Blue States into a United
States of America.33
Kenneth Walsh interviewed Barack for U.S. News & World Report
and asked if in the end would race be an impediment to him being
elected. Barack responded,
I have no doubt that there are some people who won’t vote for me
because I’m black. There would also be some people who won’t vote
for me because I’m young, because I’ve got big ears … or they don’t
like my political philosophy. This country made profound changes after
1960 … essentially in my lifetime … changes in attitude. Now that is
not to suggest that my election provides us racial reconciliation on the
cheap. There are deep-rooted, institutional barriers to success for
minority groups. Not just African-Americans but also Latinos. And
those barriers—some of them cultural, some of the institutional—aren’t
going to go away anytime soon, unless we make some serious invest-
ments in improving our schools and opening up job opportunities and
enforcing nondiscrimination laws more effectively than we have.34
Barack never asked African Americans to vote for him because he

could become the first black president in U.S. history, but for many
African Americans, the thought was exciting. Many felt his candidacy
in terms of racial progress. In interviews people thought Barack’s ability
to win primary and caucus races in predominantly white states chal-
lenged a deep pessimism about the electoral prospects for an African
American. Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics at Princeton
University, said, ‘‘There is a population of African-Americans, specifi-
cally the masses of African-Americans … who see Barack Obama as the
culmination of the civil rights movements and other movements against
racial inequality. No one thought this would happen in our lifetime, or
even in the lifetime of our children.’’ After the win in the Iowa Caucus
on January 3, 2008, where there were few black voters, Barack’s popu-
larity among South Carolina black voters began to soar, which sug-
gested that his appeal in part was based upon his ability to rally a
diverse constituency. William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spel-
man College in Atlanta, said,
[Black] people want their vote to count. They may have thought that
he was attractive as a candidate but they weren’t going to vote for
him if he had no chance. With Obama he is going for broke. That
raised a higher bar for him getting support from black folk.
In a debate with Hillary Clinton in February 2008, Barack repeated a

message central to his campaign, that he can help bring unity: ‘‘I can
bring this country together I think in a unique way, across divisions of
race, religion, region. And that is what’s going to be required in order
for us to actually deliver on the issues that both Senator Clinton and I
care so much about.’’35
Barack asked voters to judge issues, not race. He expressed frustration
that racial issues kept rising to the top of his presidential battle with Hill-
ary Clinton, but he said the great majority of voters will base their deci-
sions on substantive issues. At a news conference in Chicago in March
2008, Barack said he was not overly reliant on black support, but that he
felt his primary victories in an array of states had proven that he could
draw support from all races and regions. He said some voters might favor
or disfavor him because he is black, just as some might favor or disfavor
Clinton because she is female. However, he added,
[T]he overwhelming majority of Americans are going to make these

decisions based on who they think will be the best president. I have
absolute confidence that if I’m doing my job, if I’m delivering my
message, then there are very few voters out there that I can’t win. If
I’m not winning them over, then it’s my fault.36
Deciding he needed to address the issue of race and the racial rhetoric,
on March 18, 2008 at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia,
not far from where the Constitution of the United States was written,
Barack made what many described as the most important speech on race
in America since Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech.
Speaking for nearly forty minutes, Barack confronted America’s legacy of
racial division and white resentment and urged America to overcome ‘‘a
racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years.’’ Barack said, ‘‘We have a
choice in this country: we can accept a politics that breeds division, and
conflict, and cynicism. Or, at this moment, we can come together and
say: ‘not this time.’ ’’ He added, ‘‘And today, whenever I find myself feel-
ing doubtful or cynical about this possibility, what gives me the most
hope is the next generation: the young people whose attitude and beliefs
and openness to change have already made history in this election.’’37
After his speech on racial issues and rhetoric in Philadelphia, politi-
cal strategists were quick to parse how the speech would affect his
campaign and becoming the first black presidential nominee. Among

African American scholars and leaders, the post-speech discussion was
not of polls but of witnessing history. Reverend Alton Pollard, dean of
Howard University’s School of Divinity, said,
This was his kairos moment [using the Greek word that characterizes
moments that can alter destiny]. Race was never an issue that was
going to disappear. It’s too much a part of our national fabric to
think that we can gloss over it and move on without having to con-
tend mightily with each other.
Walter Earl Fluker, executive director of the Leadership Center at

Morehouse College and a prominent voice in the black community,
said the context of the speech was important for Americans to hear,
and that it was different from the context of the 1960s when Martin
Luther King delivered his famous ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech. ‘‘We have
at least two, possibly three generations that have been born into this
huge cultural void of memory [referring to Americans born between
the 1960s and now]. So we take fragments of this past and base much
of our understanding on these fragments.’’ Fluker said that as the son
of a black father and white mother, Barack had stepped into that
cultural void and challenged the country to do better, not remain static,
or fixed along racial lines.
Senator Obama was clearly caught in that matrix, and he was the
right person to be caught. Just as with Lincoln and Dr. King, you
have in Obama a person who is able to stand in that gap at a
moment when the nation is at one of its most difficult junctures. He
has critiqued the grandiose way in which we’ve allowed race to play
out, not just in politics, but in our day-to-day life. Like King in the
past, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression, he
spoke directly to the complexity of the issue at hand, and translated
it so it’s a part of our nation’s history.38
Barack’s speech on race was delivered across the street from where
the Constitution was written, and against a backdrop of American flags.
Confronting the issue of race in America head-on, he also spoke sympa-
thetically about the experiences of the white working class and the
plight of workers who had lost their jobs and their retirement pensions.
Paul Finkelman, a professor at Albany Law School who has written

about slavery, race, and the Constitution, said,
As far as I know, he’s the first politician since the Civil War to recog-
nize how deeply embedded slavery and race have been in our Consti-
tution. That’s a profoundly important thing to say. But what’s
important about the way he said it is he doesn’t use this as a spring-
board for anger or for frustration. He doesn’t say, ‘‘O.K., slavery was
bad, therefore people are owed something.’’ This is not a reparations
speech. This is a speech about saying it’s time for the nation to do
better, to form a more perfect union.
In the speech, Barack said, ‘‘Race is an issue that I believe this nation
cannot afford to ignore right now.’’ He said the controversies over the
past couple of weeks
reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really
worked through—a part of our union that we have yet to perfect.
And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective
corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges
like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every
American.39
In an interview with Dr. Cornel West, professor of religion and

director of African American Studies at Princeton University, on the
myth of ‘‘post-racial’’ politics and Obama’s place in history, which
appeared in the March 20, 2008 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, author
Robert Boynton asked what West thought of those who say Barack is
not ‘‘black enough,’’ and Dr. West answered,
When Obama first appeared on the scene, he was the darling of the
white press, and that made black people suspicious. But when they
had time to examine his record, his history, his relationship with
Michelle Obama and his deep love for his precious children, the issue
of ‘‘black enough’’ disappeared. That’s why polls show him carrying
eighty-five percent of the African-American vote.
Boynton asked if the nation should be worried about handing the reins
of power to someone who is relatively inexperienced, or if that is just
the kind of coded language that is always used to dismiss candidates of

color. Dr. West said,
I don’t think it has much to do with Obama’s race as with his youth …
I don’t think Obama is actually inexperienced when it comes to govern-
ing as president. He’s going to choose a high quality team, and he has
shown that he is capable of excellent political judgment.40
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has often been thought of as a

potential candidate for president or vice president. Speaking about Bar-
ack’s speech on race, she told the Washington Post on March 28, 2008,
I think it was important that he [Obama] gave it for a whole host of

reasons. There is a paradox for this country and a contradiction of
this country and we still haven’t resolved it. But what I would like
understood as a black American is that black Americans loved and
had faith in this country even when this country didn’t love and have
faith in them, and that’s our legacy.41
In April 2008, Barack was interviewed on the cable news program

Fox News Sunday. Barack said race would not be a factor in November’s
election that could make him the first black U.S. president. He added,
Is race still a factor in our society? Yes. I don’t think anybody would
deny that. Is that going to be the determining factor in a general
election? No, because I’m absolutely confident that the American
people—what they’re looking for is somebody who can solve their
problems. I am confident that when you come to a general election,
and we are having a debate about the future of this country … that
those are voters who I will be able to appeal to. If I lose, it won’t be
because of race. It will be because … I made mistakes on the cam-
paign trail, I wasn’t communicating effectively my plans in terms of
helping them in their everyday lives.42
On May 23, 2008, Barack was interviewed by CBS4, a television sta-

tion in Florida. He was asked about the issue of prejudices among
American voters. Barack said,
I think an overwhelmingly majority of people are interested in a

President who is interested in helping them live out of the American
dream. They’re not concerned about whether it’s a woman, or a black

or a Hispanic; they just want to make sure that this person is working
for them. This doesn’t mean there aren’t long standing prejudices on all
sides, and I think my job is to let people know that I’m going to be
their advocate, that I’m going to be fighting for you, regardless of where
you come from … I want to make sure you can live out that American
dream because that’s what’s been provided to me in this country.43
A June 7, 2008 editorial in the Rocky Mountain News said,
Obama is running on an agenda anchored not in activism on civil

rights, but in issues of war, health care and the economy. He’s a candi-
date who essentially tried to transcend racial concerns until the bigotry
of his longtime former pastor forced him to face the question of race
head on. But a major reason why Obama remains a decent bet to
become the first African-American president is precisely because he
does seem to personify the hope for a post-racial America and the
yearnings of people of all backgrounds to rise above their differences.
Quoting The Economist, ‘‘For a country whose past is disfigured by

slavery, segregation and unequal voting rights, this is a moment to cele-
brate. America’s history of reinventing and perfecting itself has acquired
another page.’’44
On Faith
I am hopeful that we can bridge the gaps that exist and over-
come the prejudices each of us bring to this debate. And I have
faith that millions of believing Americans want that to happen.
No matter how religious they may or may not be, people are
tired of seeing faith used as a tool of attack. They don’t want
faith used to belittle or to divide. They’re tired of hearing folks
deliver more screed than sermon. Because in the end, that’s not
how they think about faith in their own lives.
‘‘Call to Renewal’’ keynote address, June 28, 2006.
Barack often speaks openly about his faith and he also embraces the
separation of church and state. He was raised in a secular home and has
described his mother as a deeply spiritual person. He writes in The

Audacity of Hope that he was not raised in a religious household. The
combination of traits, that of his grandmother’s flinty rationalism and
his grandfather’s joviality and incapacity to judge others or himself too
strictly, was passed along to his mother. She, Barack writes, provided
him with no religious instruction, and that in her mind, it was a work-
ing knowledge of the world’s great religions that was a necessary part of
any well-rounded education. In his household were the Bible, the
Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita, all of which sat on the shelf alongside
books of Greek and Norse and African mythology.45
When he lived in Indonesia with his mother and stepfather, Barack
attended a Catholic school for two years. For a short time, Barack
attended a public school in Indonesia that was predominantly Muslim.
When he moved to Chicago, Barack worked at a church-based commu-
nity organization as an activist. It was the experiences in Chicago that
forced him to confront the fact that he had no community or shared tra-
ditions to ground his most deeply held beliefs. In The Audacity of Hope,
Barack wrote that the Christians that he worked with recognized them-
selves in him and they sensed that a part of him remained removed,
detached, and an observer among them. He came to realize, he says, that
‘‘without a vessel for his beliefs, without an unequivocal commitment to
a particular community of faith,’’ he would be consigned to always
remain apart, but also alone. Barack was drawn to the African American
church traditions and realized that religious commitment did not require
him to suspend critical thinking, disengage from the battle for economic
and social justice, or otherwise retreat from the world that he knew and
loved. He visited the Trinity United Church of Christ and was later bap-
tized at the church. It came about as a choice, he says, not an epiphany.
Barack writes that he felt ‘‘God’s spirit beckoning’’ and ‘‘submitted myself
to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.’’46
In November 2006, David Remnick interviewed Barack for The
New Yorker. He was asked about his attitude about religion, about
being raised in a secular home, and whether it was necessary for him to
write about his religion in order to go to the next level in American
politics. Barack said that what he was trying to describe is a
faith that admits doubt, and uncertainty, and mystery … I think

that’s how most people understand their faith. In fact, it’s not faith if
you’re absolutely certain. There’s a leap that we all take, and, when
you admit that doubt publicly, it’s a form of testimony … it allows
both the secular and the religious to find some sort of common space
where we say to each other … I may not believe exactly what you
do … but I share an experience in wondering what does my life
mean, or I understand the desire for a connection to something
larger than myself. And that … is in the best of the United States
religious tradition.47
In April 2004, before he spoke at the Democratic National Conven-

tion and before he was a household name outside of Illinois, Barack
was interviewed by Cathleen Falsani, a columnist for the Chicago Sun
Times. Falsani asked him what he believed and Barack said he was a
Christian and had a deep faith rooted in the Christian tradition. He
believed, he said, ‘‘that there are many paths to the same place, a belief
that there is a higher power, and that we are connected as a people. He
said, ‘‘there are values that transcend race or culture … an obligation
for all of us individually as well as collectively to take responsibility to
make those values lived.’’ Barack described his father as an agnostic, his
paternal grandfather as a Muslim, and his mother a Christian, ‘‘My
mother … was not someone who wore her religion on her sleeve …
she wasn’t a ‘church lady.’ ’’
Barack told Falsani that along with his own deep personal faith, he
was a follower of civic religion.
I am a big believer in the separation of church and state. I am a big

believer in our constitutional structure … I am a great admirer of
our founding charter and its resolve to prevent theocracies from
forming and its resolve to prevent disruptive strains of fundamental-
ism from taking root in this country.
He added that he thought there is an enormous danger on the part of

public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s
mandate and that it is not healthy for public figures to wear their reli-
gion on their sleeve as a means of insulating themselves from criticism,
or with dialogue with people who disagree with them. ‘‘The biggest
challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass.’’ He
added that he knows it is difficult for politicians to talk about faith and
that part of the reason is that it is the nature of politics that you want
everyone to admire you and see what is best about you. ‘‘Often times,
that’s by being as vague as possible, or appealing to the lower common
denominators. The more specific and detailed you are on the issues as
personal and fundamental as your faith, the more potentially dangerous
it is.’’48
In January 2007, Cathleen Falsani once again interviewed Barack for
the Chicago Sun Times. This time, she asked him if he was an evangeli-
cal. His answer was that he was not sure if labels are helpful because
the definition of an evangelical is so loose and subject to so many dif-
ferent interpretations. He said,
I came to Christianity through the black church tradition where the

line between evangelical and non-evangelical is completely blurred.
Nobody knows exactly what it means. Does it mean that you feel
you’ve got a personal relationship with Christ the savior? Then that’s
directly part of the black church experience. Does it mean you’re
born-again in a classic sense, with all the accoutrements that go along
with that, as it’s understood by some other tradition? I’m not sure.
My faith is complicated by the fact that I didn’t grow up in a particu-
lar religious tradition. And so what that means is when you come at
it as an adult, your brain mediates a lot, and you ask a lot of ques-
tions. There are aspects of Christian tradition that I’m comfortable
with and aspects that I’m not. There are passages of the Bible that
make perfect sense to me and others that I go, ‘‘Ya know, I’m not
sure about that.’’49
In a televised forum on June 4, 2007, Senator John Edwards, Sena-

tor Hillary Clinton, and Senator Obama discussed religion and prayer
in their lives. Barack tended to dwell somewhat on policy and global
concerns, rather than on his personal faith or Scripture. But he also
found ways to interlace religion and policy at the forum. Barack said it
was important to remain ‘‘our brother’s keeper, our sister’s keeper to
advance the causes of justice and freedom.’’ He said he believed that
evil existed in the world, noting, ‘‘I do think when planes crash into
buildings and kill innocents, there’s evil there.’’ In other times of vio-
lence and war, however, he saw just causes, like the Civil War and the
defeat of fascism and liberation of Europe. He also said that his
‘‘starting point as president is to restore the sense that we are in this
together and that this commitment rose out of his faith.’’ He promised
to build alliances across partisan lines to improve early childhood educa-
tion, children’s nutrition, workers’ pay, and efforts to put criminal
offenders on a better path. ‘‘The notion that we take away education pro-
grams in prisons, to be tough on crime, makes absolutely no sense.’’50
On June 13, 2007, Barack wrote in a column entitled ‘‘Faith in
Common Ground’’ that he had created an online community for
people of faith to bring folks together around difficult issues and said,
I think people are hungry for a different kind of politics—the kind

of politics based on the ideals this country was founded upon. The
idea that we are all connected as one people. That we all have a stake
in one another. That there’s room for pro-lifers and pro-choicers,
Evangelicals and atheists, Democrats and Republicans and everyone
in between, in this project of American renewal.51
Barack was raised in a nonreligious home and converted to Christi-

anity as an adult. He said,
I didn’t have an epiphany. What I really did was to take a set of val-
ues and ideals that were first instilled in me from my mother, who
was, as I have called her in my book, the last of the secular human-
ists—you know, belief in kindness and empathy and discipline,
responsibility—those kinds of values. And I found in the Church a
vessel or a repository for those values and a way to connect those val-
ues to a larger community and a belief in God and a belief in
redemption and mercy and justice … I guess the point is, it contin-
ues to be both a spiritual, but also intellectual, journey for me, this
issue of faith.
In a June 2007 speech in Connecticut, Barack spoke about his religious

conversion:
One Sunday, I put on one of the few clean jackets I had, and went
over to Trinity United Church of Christ … and I heard a sermon
called ‘‘The Audacity of Hope.’’ … During the course of that sermon,
he [Reverend Jeremiah Wright] introduced me to someone named
Jesus Christ. I learned that my sins could be redeemed … those
things I was too weak to accomplish myself, he would accomplish
with me if I placed my trust in him … I came to see faith as more

than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather
as an active, palpable agent in the world and in my own life … It
came as a choice and not an epiphany. The questions I had didn’t
magically disappear. The skeptical bent of my mind didn’t suddenly
vanish … I heard God’s spirit beckoning me.
In 2006, Barack said, ‘‘Faith doesn’t mean that you don’t have
doubts.’’52
Two weeks before Barack announced his candidacy, he attended ser-
vices at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. The church’s
motto is ‘‘unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian,’’ and is the
sort of church community that Barack wrote about wanting to connect
with when he first came to Chicago as a community organizer. It is
where he has said he found Christ, and it is where he and Michelle were
married and where his two daughters were baptized. On that particular
Sunday, among a sea of black worshippers, with a few white people in
the balcony, many of whom were holding a copy of Barack’s book The
Audacity of Hope, Barack and his family were in the third row, sitting,
standing, clapping, praying, and swaying along with the rest of the con-
gregation. During the sermon, Barack listened intently and took notes.
When the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Jr. asked Barack to say a few
words, Barack took the microphone and told the worshippers, ‘‘I love
you all. It’s good to be back home.’’ The choir broke into a chorus of
‘‘Barack, Hallelujah! Barack, Hallelujah!’’53 In March 2008, after dated
videos surfaced of the Reverend Wright’s controversial and fiery com-
ments about America, Barack was forced to confront the comments and
distance himself from his long-time pastor who had retired from Chica-
go’s Trinity United Church of Christ. On March 18, 2008, Barack made
a speech on race to directly address the ‘‘firestorm’’ created by Wright
and his views. The speech, made in Philadelphia at the National Consti-
tution Center, was meant to make a sweeping assessment of race in
America. Barack said he could not disown Wright, but made it clear that
he condemned the comments. Wright continued to make comments and
Barack continued to distance himself from them. In late May, Barack
and Michelle resigned from the Church. Barack said,
Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive state-
ments of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own
views. These controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction

for other Trinity members who seek to worship in peace, and have
placed you in an untenable position … I make this decision with
sadness. This is where I found Jesus Christ, where we were married,
where our children were baptized. We are proud of the extraordinary
works of that church … I’m not denouncing the church, and I’m not
interested in people who want me to denounce the church. It’s not a
church worthy of denouncing.54
Barack said on June 28, 2006, in his ‘‘Call to Renewal’’ keynote

address,
This is why, if we truly hope to speak to people where they’re at—to

communicate our hopes and values in a way that’s relevant to their
own—we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse. Because
when we ignore the debate about what it means to be a good Chris-
tian or Muslim or Jew; when we discuss religion only in the negative
sense of where or how it should not be practiced, rather than in the
positive sense of what it tells us about our obligations towards one
another; when we shy away from religious venues and religious
broadcasts because we assume that we will be unwelcome—others
will fill the vacuum, those with the most insular views of faith, or
those who cynically use religion to justify partisan ends.
NOTES
1. John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm
2. Michael A. Fletcher, ‘‘Obama’s Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question,’’
Washington Post, January 25, 2007, A01.
3. Marc Royce, ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama,’’ O, The Oprah Magazine, November
2004, 248.
4. Lisa Rogak, ed. Barack Obama, In His Own Words (New York: Carroll & Graf Pub-
lishers, 2007), 106.
5. Steve Dougherty, Hopes and Dreams, The Story of Barack Obama (New York: Black
6. Benjamin Wallace-Wells, ‘‘The Great Black Hope,’’ Washington Monthly, November
2004, 30–36.
7. ‘‘Newsweek cover: Black and White,’’ Examiner.com, July 8, 2007, http://www.
examiner.com (accessed July 9, 2007).
8. David Ignatius, ‘‘Can Mr. Cool Get Hot?’’ Washington Post, October 11, 2007,
A19.
9. Jonathan Kaufman, ‘‘Whites’ Great Hope?’’ Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2007, A1.
10. Ronald Roach, ‘‘Obama Rising,’’ Black Issues in Higher Education, 2004, 20–23.
11. Susan Page, ‘‘2008 Race Has the Face of a Changing America,’’ USA Today, March
12, 2007.
12. Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006), 232–233.
13. Fox Butterfield, ‘‘First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review,’’ New York
Times, February 6, 1990, A20.
14. Richard Wolffe and Darn Briscoe, ‘‘Across the Divide,’’ Newsweek, July 16, 2007, 26.
15. Dawn Turner Trice, ‘‘Obama Unfazed by Foes’ Doubts on Race Question,’’ Chicago
Tribune, March 15, 2004. Quoted in John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This Improb-
able Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008), 56.
16. Noam Scheiber, ‘‘Race Against History,’’ New Republic, May 31, 2004, 21–26.
17. Royce, ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama.’’
18. ‘‘Q & A with Senator Barack Obama,’’ Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2005. General
Reference Center Gold. Gale (accessed May 20, 2008).
19. Jonathan Alter, ‘‘The Challenges We Face,’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 36–40.
20. Fletcher, ‘‘Obama’s Appeal to Blacks.’’
21. Steve Kroft, ‘‘Candidate Obama Feels ‘Sense of Urgency,’ ’’ 60 Minutes, February 11,
2007, http://www.il.proquest.com.ezproxy.denverlibrary.org (accessed May 9, 2008).
22. ‘‘Rice: Obama Candidacy Signals Progress,’’ Associated Press, February 25, 2007,
http://www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed February 26, 2007).
23. Susan Page, ‘‘2008 Race has the Face of a Changing America,’’ USA Today, March
12, 2007, http://www.web.ebscohost.com (accessed July 26, 2007).
24. Patrick Healy, ‘‘Courting Black Votes, Obama Emphasizes Principles, New York
Times, April 22, 2007, 1.25.
25. Shamus Toomey, ‘‘A Lot to Do with Race,’’ Chicago Sun Times, May 5, 2007,
http://www.suntimes.com (accessed May 18, 2007).
26. Ron Walters, ‘‘Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness,’’ Journal of Black Stud-
ies, July 18, 2007, 17.
27. Ibid.
28. Gary Younge, ‘‘The Obama Effect,’’ The Nation, December 31, 2007.
29. ‘‘Newsweek cover: Black and White.’’
30. Karen Tumulty, ‘‘Our of Reach?’’ Time, October 8, 2007, 51.
31. Gwen Ifill, ‘‘The Candidate,’’ Essence, October 2007, 224.
32. Kaufman, ‘‘Whites’ Great Hope?’’
33. Barack Obama, ‘‘Transcript of February 12 Speech,’’ New York Times, February 12,
2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed February 14, 2008).
34. Kenneth T. Walsh, ‘‘One-on-One with Barack Obama,’’ U.S. News & World Report,
February 25, 2008, 44.
35. Matthew Bigg, ‘‘Black Americans See Obama Rise in Context of History,’’ Reuters,
February 28, 2008, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed February 28, 2008).
36. ‘‘Obama: Voters to Judge Issues, Not Race,’’ Associated Press, March 13, 2008,
http://ap.google.com (accessed March 13, 2008).
37. Tom Baldwin, ‘‘Barack Obama Attacks US State of ‘Racial Stalemate,’ ’’ Times
Online, March 19, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_
americas/us_electives/article3578425.ece (accessed March 19, 2008).
38. Liz Halloran, ‘‘Obama’s Race Speech Heralded as Historic,’’ U.S. News & World
Report, March 18, 2008, http://www.usnews.com (accessed March 18, 2008).
39. Janny Scott, ‘‘Obama Chooses Reconciliation Over Rancor,’’ New York Times,
March 19, 2008, A.14.
40. Robert S. Boynton, ‘‘Obama and the Blues,’’ Rolling Stone, March 20, 2008, 42.
41. Sue Pleming, ‘‘Rice Hails Obama Race Speech as ‘Important’ for U.S.’’ Reuters,
March 28, 2008, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed March 28, 2008).
42. ‘‘Obama Says Race Not an Issue in U.S. Election,’’ Reuters, April 27, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com (accessed April 27, 2008).
43. ‘‘CBS4’s One-On-One Interview with Barack Obama,’’ CBS4.com, May 23, 2008,
http://www.cbs4.com (accessed May 23, 2008).
44. Editorial, ‘‘History in the Making,’’ Rocky Mountain News, June 7, 2008, 29.
45. Obama, The Audacity of Hope, 202–204.
46. Ibid., 206, 208.
48. Cathleen Falsani, ‘‘Obama: I Have a Deep Faith,’’ Chicago Sun-Times, April 5,
2004, http://www.suntimes.com (accessed June 11, 2008).
49. Cathleen Falsani, ‘‘Evangelical? Obama’s Faith Too Complex for Simple Label,’’
Chicago Sun-Times, January 19, 2007, http://www.suntimes.com (accessed June 11,
2008).
50. Patrick Healy and Michael Luo, ‘‘Edwards, Clinton and Obama Describe Journeys
of Faith,’’ New York Times, June 5, 2007, A20.
51. Barack Obama, ‘‘Faith on Common Ground,’’ Washington Post, June 13, 2007,
http://www.washingtonpost.com (accessed June 13, 2007).
52. Andrew Sullivan, ‘‘Goodbye to All That,’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 49.
53. Ryan Lizza, ‘‘The Agitator,’’ New Republic, March 19, 2007, http://www.tnr.com
54. Michael Powell, ‘‘Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church,’’ New
York TimesOnline, June 1, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed June 1, 2008).
Conclusion
‘‘America, this is our moment. This is our time, our time to

turn the page on the policies of the past … our time to bring
new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face, our time
to offer a new direction for this country that we love. The
journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this chal-
lenge—I face this challenge with profound humility and knowl-
edge of my own limitations, but I also face it with limitless
faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are
willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I
am absolutely certain that, generations from now, we will be
able to look back and tell our children that this was the
moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good
jobs to the jobless … this was the moment when the rise of the
oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal … this was
the moment when we ended a war, and secured our nation,
and restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth. This
was the moment, this was the time when we came together to
remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very
best selves and our highest ideals.’’1
Conclusion 185
The Presumptive Democratic Nominee
for the Presidency
On Tuesday, June 3, 2008, Barack became the presumptive nominee

for the Democratic Party. The final two primaries, in Montana, where
Barack prevailed, and in South Dakota, where Hillary Clinton won
the most votes, pushed Barack over the edge in pledged delegates.
With his win in Montana and with his share of the South Dakota del-
egates, most of the uncommitted superdelegates then voiced their sup-
port. According to the Associated Press, Barack sealed his nomination
on the basis of primary elections, state Democratic caucuses, and sup-
port from party superdelegates. His nomination concluded a seventeen-
month marathon for the Democratic nomination. All told, there were
fifty-four contests, hundreds of millions of dollars spent, and at the
end, the race remained too close to call; it was the longest nomination
race in history.
From the beginning, even before he announced his candidacy in
February 2007, many called Barack’s campaign improbable. Few said it
could be done, and fewer still felt he could become the nominee against
the formidable Hillary Clinton, who early on was called the odds-on
favorite to be the nominee. On Tuesday, June 3, Barack made a historic
claim to the Democratic presidential nomination. He was the first Afri-
can American in this country’s history to do so. And although she did
not concede, and while she signaled that she was open to being Barack’s
running mate, Hillary Clinton, who would have been the first female
presidential nominee in history, saluted Barack in her speech that
evening. She had all along stated she was the most electable candidate,
given her support among women, white men, older voters, and blue-
collar workers. Many superdelegates did not agree and cast their
endorsement and their vote for Barack. Among those superdelegates
that cast their votes early on the day of the final primary was Represen-
tative Jim Clyburn of South Carolina. Clyburn, a civil-rights-era leader
and the House of Representatives senior African American, said Barack
‘‘has created levels of energy and excitement that I have not witnessed
since the 1960s,’’ especially among younger voters.
I believe he is the most electable candidate that Democrats can offer.

He will be able to dramatically change the electoral map for Demo-
crats which will in turn expand our majorities here in Congress, and
help elect more Democrats at the state and local levels.
Other politicians stated that Barack should be the party’s nominee

because he would draw young voters, African Americans, and other new
Democrats and independents to the polls in the November election.
To an estimated crowd of 32,000 people in the Xcel Energy Center
in St. Paul, Minnesota, the site of the Republican National Convention
in September, Barack said, ‘‘Tonight, I can stand before you and say
that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United
States of America.’’ The venue symbolized the beginning of the general
election campaign against John McCain, the presumptive Republican
nominee, who clinched the nomination months before. McCain also
spoke that evening in New Orleans, and said, ‘‘Both Senator Obama
and I promise we will end Washington’s stagnant, unproductive parti-
sanship. But one of us has a record of working to do that, and one of
us doesn’t.’’ Barack, for his part, complimented Senator McCain on his
military service and his ‘‘many accomplishments—even if he chooses to
deny mine. My differences with him are not personal; they are with the
policies he has proposed in this campaign,’’ policies that Barack said
would amount to four more years of President Bush’s policies.2
On June 4, 2008, the day after he was named the presumptive nom-
inee for the Democratic Party, Barack and Hillary Clinton spoke at the
Pro-Israel conference for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee,
known as AIPAC. According to the Huffington Post, on June 4, some
observers noted that Barack faced the prospect of a cool reception dur-
ing his speech at the conference. After receiving a massive ovation upon
entering the crowd’s view at the convention center in Washington,
D.C., Barack, the Post noted, apparently felt comfortable enough to
meet any residual doubts about his record on Israel’s security with a
touch of humor and then a great many specifics. After Barack spoke, it
was Senator Clinton’s turn. She had yet to concede the race to Barack,
had yet to endorse him, and had not suspended or quit her campaign.
She said in her speech at the conference,
Let me be clear. I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to
Israel. I know Senator Obama shares my view that the next president
Conclusion 187
must be ready to say to the world. Our position is unchanging, our

resolve unyielding, our stance non-negotiable. The United States
stands with Israel, now and forever.3
On Saturday, June 8, 2008, after much speculation about what she

would do, Hillary Clinton made a speech at the historic National
Building Museum in Washington, D.C. In her speech, she brought her
campaign for the White House to an end with a rousing farewell.
Standing alone on the stage, she spoke about the importance of electing
Barack as president, and about the extent to which her campaign was a
milestone for women. She made an unequivocal call for her voters to
get behind Barack, the man who had defeated her for the nomination.
She asked her supporters not to take the wrong lesson from her loss.
She said,
You can be proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a
woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a
woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think
that a woman can be the president of the United States. To those
who are disappointed that we couldn’t go all the way, especially the
young people who put so much into this campaign, it would break
my heart if, in falling short of my goal, I in any way discouraged any
of you from pursuing yours.
It took Senator Clinton seven minutes into the speech to first mention
Barack, but when she did, she swept away doubt that she was ready to
concede or that she was hesitant about endorsing him or his qualifica-
tions to be president. She said,
The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for
which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and
do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the
United States … I congratulate him on the victory he has won and
the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full
support behind him.
The crowd roared with their approval when Hillary said Barack’s name,
but there were some boos and jeers as well. She told the crowd and
supporters across the nation to join her in working hard for Barack and
that she had campaigned with him for sixteen months, had stood on
the same stage with him, and had gone toe-to-toe with him in twenty-
two debates; she said she had had a front row seat to his candidacy and
had seen his determination, his grace, and his grit. She reminded her
supporters that it would take all their strength and energy to help elect
Barack as president and added, ‘‘So today I am standing with Senator
Obama to say, ‘Yes, we can!’ ’’ Barack, in Chicago, responded quickly to
the speech and paid tribute to the message and thanked her for her sup-
port. ‘‘I honor her today for the valiant and historic campaign she has
run. She shattered barriers on behalf of my daughters and women every-
where, who now know that there are no limits to their dreams.’’ The
event was in many ways a traditional end to a campaign that never had
a traditional beginning. Unlike Barack, who announced his candidacy
in February 2007 in front of a huge crowd in Springfield, Illinois in a
speech that was full of symbolism in front the old Illinois State Capitol
building where Abraham Lincoln had served and lived, Hillary announced
her campaign in January 2007 by posting an announcement on the
Internet.4
Now that he was the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party,
Barack and rival John McCain kicked off their battle for the presidency.
Amid the Iraq war, the war in Afghanistan, a sinking economy that was
affecting most Americans with job losses, high gas prices, unaffordable
health care; skyrocketing food prices, and all of the other problems fac-
ing the country, there were vast differences between the two candidates;
however, they both were promising change. Both began the day hoping
to frame the campaign ahead. Barack tied McCain’s campaign to Presi-
dent Bush, whose approval ratings ranged from 25 percent to 30 per-
cent, based on various polls. McCain said, ‘‘No matter who wins this
election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically.’’
He vowed a new direction on a list of issues and said, ‘‘I’ve worked
with the president to keep our nation safe. But he and I have not seen
eye to eye on many issues.’’ Barack answered, ‘‘There are many words
to describe John McCain’s attempt to pass off his embrace of George
Bush’s policies as bipartisan and new. But change is not one of them.’’
Barack and John McCain are as different as their individual back-
grounds. Barack, at forty-six years old, is a one-term senator who went
from Harvard Law School to community organizing on the streets of
Chicago. Senator McCain, a Vietnam war hero, is the son and
Conclusion 189
grandson of admirals and has served a quarter of a century in Congress.

At seventy-two years of age, and with thinning white hair, if he is
elected president, he will be the oldest president sworn in for a first
term. With these differences, both promise change in how Washington
works. Barack promises to reach across the aisle, lower the rhetoric, and
seek common ground where possible. Senator McCain vows to do the
same. Barack said, ‘‘I’ll reach my hand out to anyone, Republican or
Democrat, who will help me change what needs to be changed. We may
call ourselves Democrats and Republicans, but we are Americans first.
We are always Americans first.’’5
NOTES
1. Barack Obama, ‘‘Remarks in St. Paul, Minnesota,’’ Transcript. CQ Today Online
News, June 3, 2008, http://www.cqpolitics.com (accessed June 4, 2008).
2. Jackie Calmes, ‘‘Obama Clinches Nomination, Capping Historic, Bitter Contest,’’
New York Times, June 4, 2008, A1, A4.
3. ‘‘Daily Brief,’’ Huffington Post, June 4, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com
4. Adam Nagourney and Mark Leibovich, ‘‘Clinton Ends Bid with Clear Call to Elect
Obama,’’ New York Times, June 8, 2008, A. 1.
5. Laura Meckler, ‘‘McCain, Obama Kick Off Groundbreaking Battle,’’ Wall Street
Journal, June 4, 2008, A4.
Bibliography
‘‘A Fighter in Search of an Opponent.’’ The Economist, February 9, 2008, 30.

Allen, Mike, and Ben Smith. ‘‘Liberal Views Could Haunt Obama.’’ USA Today,
December 12, 2007, http://www.usatoday.com (accessed December 12, 2007).
Alter, Jonathan. ‘‘The Challenges We Face.’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 36–40.
———. ‘‘Is America Ready?’’ Newsweek, December 25, 2006, 28–35.
———. ‘‘Obama Plays Offense.’’ Newsweek, February 4, 2008, 32.
Alter, Jonathan, and Daren Brisco. ‘‘The Audacity of Hope.’’ Newsweek, December 27,
2004, 74–87.
Aminder, Marc. ‘‘Teacher and Apprentice.’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 59–60, 64.
Asante, Molefi Kete. ‘‘Barack Obama and the Dilemma of Power.’’ Journal of Black
Studies, 48, no. 1 (2007), 105–115.
Astill, James. ‘‘The Campaign’s Brightest Star.’’ The Economist, June 16, 2007, 33.
Bacon, Perry, Jr. ‘‘The Exquisite Dilemma of Being Obama.’’ Time, February 20, 2006,
24.
Baldwin, Tom. ‘‘Barack Obama Attacks U.S. State of ‘Racial Stalemate.’’’ Times Online,
March 19, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk (accessed March 19, 2008).
Baldwin, Tom, and Tim Reid. ‘‘I’m Winning this Race, Barack Obama Says, So Why
Should I Be No. 2?’’ Times Online, March 11, 2008, http://www.timesonline.co.uk
(accessed March 11, 2008).
Balz, Dan. ‘‘With Campaign Underway, Obama Now Must Show More Than Poten-
tial.’’ Washington Post, February 13, 2007, A09.
———. ‘‘Obama Says He Can United U.S. ‘More Effectively’ Than Clinton.’’ Wash-
ington Post, August 15, 2007, A01.
191
192 Bibliography
Barabak, Mark Z. ‘‘Ex-Labor Secretary Reich Backs Obama.’’ Los Angeles Times, April
19, 2008, http://www.latimes.com (accessed April 19, 2008).
‘‘Barack Obama Foreign Policy.’’ On The Issues. http://www.ontheissues.org (accessed
June 2, 2008).
‘‘Barack Obama Jumps into 2008 Race.’’ CBS News Online, January 16, 2007, http://
www.cbsnews.com (accessed January 16, 2007).
Bartiromo, Maria. ‘‘Facetime with Barack Obama.’’ Business Week Online, April 3,
2008, http://www.businessweek.com (accessed April 3, 2008).
Baxter, Tom, and Saeed Ahemed. ‘‘20,000 Turn Out for Obama.’’ Atlanta Journal Con-
stitution, April 14, 2007, http://www.ajc.com (accessed April 15, 2007).
Bigg, Matthew. ‘‘Black Americans See Obama Rise in Context of History.’’ Reuters, Feb-
ruary 28, 2008, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed February 28, 2008).
Borger, Gloria. ‘‘Does Barack Really Rock?’’ U.S. News & World Report, November 6,
2006, 43.
Boynton, Robert S. ‘‘Obama and the Blues.’’ Rolling Stone, March 20, 2008, 42.
Briscoe, Daren. ‘‘Black and White.’’ Newsweek, July 8, 2007.
Broder, John M. ‘‘Shushing the Baby Boomers.’’ New York Times, January 21, 2007, 1, 14.
Brooks, David. ‘‘The Obama-Clinton Issue.’’ New York Times, December 18, 2007, A.35.
———. ‘‘The Two Earthquakes.’’ New York Times, January 4, 2008, A.19.
Brown, Carrie Budoff. ‘‘Obama Asks Jewish Voters for Chance.’’ Politico.com, May 23,
2008, http://www.politico.com (accessed May 26, 2008).
Brozyna, Christine. ‘‘Get to Know Barack Obama.’’ ABC News Online, November 1,
2007, http://www.abcnews.com (accessed November 21, 2007).
Bryant, Nick. ‘‘A Black Man in the White House?’’ BBC News, July 3, 2007, http://
news.bbc.co.uk (accessed July 3, 2007).
Burnside, Randolph, and Kami Whitehurst. ‘‘From the Statehouse to the White House?
Barack Obama’s Bid to Become the Next President.’’ Journal of Black Studies, July
31, 2007, 75.
Butterfield, Fox. ‘‘First Black Elected to Head Harvard’s Law Review.’’ New York Times,
February 6, 1990, A.20.
Calmes, Jackie. ‘‘Democrats’ Litmus: Electability: Key Issue for 2008 Race Poses Hur-
dles for Clinton, Obama.’’ Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2007, A6.
———. ‘‘Obama Clinches Nomination, Capping Historic, Bitter Contest.’’ New York
Times, June 4, 2008, A.1, A.4.
‘‘The Campaign’s Brightest Star.’’ The Economist, June 16, 2007, 33–34.
Cannellos, Peter S. ‘‘On Affirmative Action, Obama Intriguing but Vague.’’ Boston
Globe, April 29, 2008, http://www.boston.com (accessed April 29, 2008).
Carlson, Margaret. ‘‘For Obama, It’s Public Character That Counts.’’ Bloomberg News,
January 4, 2007, http://www.bloomberg.com (accessed January 4, 2007).
Chaudhry, Lakshmi. ‘‘Will the Real Generation Obama Please Stand Up?’’ The Nation,
November 15, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed November 16, 2007). Arti-
cle appeared in the December 3, 2007 edition of The Nation.
Bibliography 193
Clayton, Jonathan, and Nyangoma Kogela. ‘‘Favourite Son Is Already a Winner in

Kenya.’’ Times of London, February 10, 2007, http://elibrary.bigchalk.com
Clayworth, Jason. ‘‘Obama Victory Speech: ‘Time for Change Has Come.’’’ Des Moines
Register, January 4, 2008, http://www.desmoinesregister.com (accessed January 4,
2008).
Cohen, Roger. ‘‘Obama’s Youth-Drive Movement.’’ New York Times, January 28, 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com (accessed January 28, 2008).
Crummy, Karen. ‘‘Obama: ‘The Country Calls Us.’’’ Denver Post, March 19, 2007, 1B, 5B.
‘‘Daily Brief.’’ Huffington Post, June 4, 2008, http://www.huffingtonpost.com (accessed
June 4, 2008).
Davey, Monica. ‘‘As Quickly as Overnight, a Democratic Star Is Born.’’ New York
Times, March 18, 2004, A.20.
‘‘Day 2 of ‘Oprahpalooza’ begins in SC.’’ Associated Press, December 9, 2007, http://
www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed December 10, 2007).
Devaney, Sherri, and Mark Devaney. Barack Obama. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson
Gale, 2007.
DeYoung, Karen. ‘‘Obama and Romney Lay Out Positions on Iraq and Beyond.’’ Wash-
ington Post, May 31, 2007, A10.
De Zutter, Hank. ‘‘What Makes Obama Run?’’ Chicago Reader, December 8, 1995,
Dickinson, Tim. ‘‘The Machinery of Hope.’’ Rolling Stone, March 20, 2008, 38.
Dorsey, Margaret E., and Miguel Diaz-Barriga. ‘‘Senator Barack Obama and Immigra-
tion Reform.’’ Journal of Black Studies, July 18, 2007, http://jbs.sagepub.com
(accessed July 18, 2007).
Dougherty, Steve. Hopes and Dreams, The Story of Barack Obama. New York: Black
Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Drew, Christopher, and Mike McIntire. ‘‘Obama Built Donor Network from Roots
Up.’’ New York Times, April 3, 2007.
Duffy, Michael. ‘‘Obama Moves On, Without a Bounce.’’ Time, January 9, 2008.
Editorial, ‘‘History in the Making.’’ Rocky Mountain News, June 7, 2008, 29.
Enda, Jodi. ‘‘Great Expectations.’’ American Prospect, February 5, 2006, http://www.
prospect.org (accessed January 29, 2007).
Falsani, Cathleen. ‘‘Obama: I Have a Deep Faith.’’ Chicago Sun Times, April 5, 2004,
http://www.suntimes.com (accessed June 11, 2008).
———. ‘‘Evangelical? Obama’s Faith Too Complex for Simple Label.’’ Chicago Sun
Times, January 19, 2007, http://www.suntimes.com (accessed June 11, 2008).
Ferguson, Andrew. ‘‘The Literary Obama.’’ Weekly Standard, February 12, 2007.
Fletcher, Michael. ‘‘Obama’s Appeal to Blacks Remains an Open Question.’’ Washington
Post, January 26, 2007, A01.
‘‘For the Democrats: Obama.’’ Chicago Tribune, January 27, 2008, http://www.chicago
tribune.com (accessed January 28, 2008).
194 Bibliography
Foulkes, Toni, ‘‘Case Study: Chicago-The Barack Obama Campaign.’’ Social Policy,
Winter 34, Spring 34, no. 2, 3 (2003, 2004),: 49–51.
Fournier, Ron. ‘‘The Unknown: Is Obama Ready?’’ Associated Press, June 17, 2007,
http://news.yahoo.com (accessed June 18, 2007).
———. ‘‘Obama Presidency a ‘Stretch’ for Voters.’’ Associated Press, August 21, 2007,
http://abcnews.go.com (accessed August 21, 2007).
Gensheimer, Lydia. ‘‘Big Crowd, Big Win for Obama in Heart of Des Moines.’’ CQ
Today, January 4, 2008, http://www.cqpolitics.com (accessed January 4, 2008).
Gerson, Michael. ‘‘A Phenom with Flaws.’’ Washington Post, May 23, 2008, http://
www.washingtonpost.com (accessed May 26, 2008).
‘‘Getting Fratricidal.’’ The Economist, March 15, 2008, 38.
Giroux, Greg. ‘‘Obama and Huckabee Score Upsets in Iowa.’’ CQ Today, January 4,
2008.
Goldberg, Jeffrey. ‘‘The Starting Gate.’’ New Yorker, January 15, 2007, http://www.
newyorker.com (accessed May 23, 2008).
Green, David. ‘‘Candidacy Status: Sen. Barack Obama (IL).’’ National Public Radio,
July 9, 2007, http://www.npr.org (accessed July 9, 2007).
Greenberg, David. ‘‘How Obama is Like JFK.’’ Washington Post, April 20, 2007.
Grim, Ryan. ‘‘Obama’s World.’’ The Politico, March 6, 2007, http://www.cbsnews.com.
Griscom, Amanda. ‘‘Muckraker.’’ Salon, August 6, 2004, http://www.salon.com
Halloran, Liz. ‘‘Obama’s Race Speech Heralded as Historic.’’ U.S. News & World Report,
March 18, 2008, http://www.usnews.com (accessed March 18, 2008).
Harwood, John. ‘‘In Superdelegate Count, Tough Math for Clinton.’’ New York Times,
April 7, 2008, A18.
Healy, Patrick. ‘‘Courting Black Votes, Obama Emphasizes Principles.’’ New York
Times, April 22, 2007, 1.25.
———. ‘‘Obama Disputes Claim of Sharing Clinton’s Stance on War.’’ New York
Times, May 18, 2007, A22.
Healy, Patrick, and Michael Luo. ‘‘Edwards, Clinton and Obama Describe Journeys of
Faith.’’ New York Times, June 5, 2007, A20.
Hession, Gregory A. ‘‘Barack Obama.’’ The New American, May 26, 2008, 22.
Hunter, Jennifer. ‘‘Obama Brushes Off Race Question.’’ Chicago Sun Times, December
2, 2007, http://www.suntimes.com (accessed December 7, 2007).
Ifill, Gwen. ‘‘On the Road with Michelle.’’ Essence, September 7, 2007, 203–206.
———. ‘‘The Candidate.’’ Essence, October 2007, 224.
Ignatius, David. ‘‘Can Mr. Cool Get Hot?’’ Washington Post, October 11, 2007, A19.
Kantor, Jodi. ‘‘In Law School, Obama Found Political Voice.’’ New York Times, January
28, 2007. 1, 21.
———. ‘‘A Candidate, His Minister and the Search for Faith.’’ New York Times, April
30, 2007, A.1.
Bibliography 195
Kantor, Jodi, and Jeff Zeleny. ‘‘Michele Obama Adds New Role to Balancing Act.’’
New York Times, May 18, 2007, A1.
Kaufman, Jonathan. ‘‘Whites’ Great Hope?’’ Wall Street Journal, November 10, 2007, A1.
Keating, Stephen. ‘‘Obama Moms Cradle Campaign.’’ Denver Post, June 10, 2007,
C03.
Keen, Judy. ‘‘Candid and Unscripted, Campaigning Her Way.’’ USA Today, May 11,
2007, 01a.
Kennedy, Caroline. ‘‘A President Like My Father.’’ New York Times, January 27, 2008.
WK.18.
Klein, Joe. ‘‘The Fresh Face.’’ Time, October 23, 2006, 44.
———. ‘‘How to Build a Bonfire.’’ Time, February 26, 2007, 18.
———. ‘‘Barack Obama.’’ Time, May 14, 2007, 57–58.
———. ‘‘Obama’s History Victory.’’ Time, January 4, 2008.
———. ‘‘Obama’s Challenge—and Ours.’’ Time, March 31, 2008, 31.
———. ‘‘Petraeus Meets His Match.’’ Time, April 21, 2008, 29.
Klein, Richard, and Nancy Flores. ‘‘The Note: Double-Oh Show.’’ ABC News Online,
December 7, 2007, http://abcnews.com (accessed December 7, 2007).
Kornblut, Anne E., and Shailagh Murray. ‘‘I’m Tired of Politics as Usual.’’ Washington
Post, December 9, 2007, A01.
Krawczeniuk, Borys. ‘‘Interview with Barack Obama.’’ Scranton Times-Tribune, April
21, 2008, http://www.timesshamrock.com (accessed April 21, 2008).
Kristof, Nicholas D. ‘‘Obama: Man of the World.’’ New York Times, March 6, 2007,
A.21.
Kuhnhenn, Jim, and Charles Babington. ‘‘Bitter Words Spur Debate.’’ Denver Post,
April 13, 2008, 21A.
La Ganga, Maria L. ‘‘Obama Has New Rallying Cry: Yes, We Can!’’ Los Angeles Times,
January 9, 2008.
Liebowitz, Sarah. ‘‘Democrats Pick Clinton.’’ Concord Monitor, January 9, 2008, http://
www.concordmonitor.com (accessed January 9, 2008).
Little, Amanda Griscom. ‘‘Barack Obama.’’ Rolling Stone, December 30, 2004, 88.
———. ‘‘Obama on Energy for’ 08.’’ Salon, August 27, 2007, http://www.salon.com
Littwin, Mike. ‘‘Still Waiting for Obama to Deliver Something New.’’ Rocky Mountain
News, November 17, 2007, 30.
Lizza, Ryan. ‘‘The Natural.’’ Atlantic Monthly, September 2004, 30–33.
———. ‘‘The Agitator.’’ New Republic, March 19, 2007, http://www.tnr.com (accessed
June 5, 2008).
———. ‘‘Above the Fray.’’ GQ, September 2007, 334, 335–337, 408–409.
MacFarquhar, Larissa. ‘‘The Conciliator.’’ The New Yorker, May 7, 2007, http://
www.newyorker.com (accessed December 18, 2007).
———. ‘‘Ask the Author: Larissa MacFarquhar: ‘‘The Conciliator.’’ The New Yorker,
May 14, 2007.
196 Bibliography
Marcus, Ruth. ‘‘The Clintonian Candidate.’’ Washington Post, January 31, 2007, A15.
———. ‘‘From Barack Obama, Two Dangerous Words.’’ Washington Post, July 11,
2007, A15.
McClelland, Edward. ‘‘How Obama Learned to be a Natural.’’ Salon, February 12,
2007, http://www.salon.com (accessed May 12, 2008).
McGirt, Ellen. ‘‘The Brand Called Obama.’’ Fast Company, April 2008, 87–88, 92.
Meckler, Laura. ‘‘McCain, Obama Kick Off Groundbreaking Battle.’’ Wall Street Jour-
nal, June 4, 2008, A4.
Mendell, David. Obama: From Promise to Power. New York: Amistad, 2007.
Merida, Kevin. ‘‘The Ghost of a Father.’’ Washington Post, December 14, 2007, A12.
Merrion, Paul. ‘‘Obama’s Appeal Drives Cash Flow.’’ Paul Crain’s Chicago Business, Sep-
tember 15, 2003.
Moberg, David. ‘‘Obama’s Community Roots.’’ The Nation, April 3, 2007, 16, 18.
Mosk, Matthew, and John Solomon. ‘‘Obama Taps Two Worlds to Fill 2008 War
Chest.’’ Washington Post, April 15, 2007, A01.
Mundy, Liza. ‘‘A Series of Fortunate Events.’’ Washington Post, August 12, 2007, W10.
Nagourney, Adam. ‘‘Obama Made Inroads, but Fervor Fell Short.’’ New York Times,
February 7, 2008, http://msnbc.msn.com (accessed February 7, 2008).
———. ‘‘Surging, Obama Makes His Case.’’ New York Times, February 13, 2008, A.21.
———. ‘‘2 Years After Big Speech, a Lower Key for Obama.’’ New York Times, April 8,
2007, 15.
Nagourney, Adam, and Mark Leibovich. ‘‘Clinton Ends Bid with Clear Call to Elect
Obama.’’ New York Times, June 8, 2008, A.1.
Nagourney, Adam, and Jeff Zeleny. ‘‘Obama Formally Enters Presidential Race with
Calls for Generational Change.’’ New York Times, February 11, 2007, 22.
‘‘Newsweek Cover: Black and White.’’ Examiner.com, July 8, 2007, http://www.
examiner.com (accessed July 9, 2007).
Noonan, Peggy. ‘‘The Man from Nowhere.’’ Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2006,
14.
Norment, Lynn. ‘‘The Hottest Couple in America.’’ Ebony, February 1, 2007, 52.
Norris, Michele. ‘‘Michelle Obama Sees Election as Test for America.’’ National Public
Radio, July 9, 2007, http://www.npr.org (accessed July 9, 2007).
Obama, Barack. Dreams from My Father. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2004.
———. The Audacity of Hope. New York: Crown Publishers, 2006.
———. ‘‘Remarks: Governor’s Ethanol Coalition, Energy Security is National Secu-
rity.’’ February 28, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov (accessed May 29, 2008).
———. ‘‘Remarks: Energy Independence and the Safety of Our Planet.’’ April 3,
2006, http://obama.senate.gov (accessed May 29, 2008).
———. ‘‘Floor Statement: Employment Verification Amendment for the Immigration
Bill.’’ May 23, 2006, http://obama.senate.gov (accessed May 29, 2008).
———. ‘‘Floor Statement: Amendment Requiring a Photo ID to Vote.’’ May 24,
2006, http://obama.senate.gov (accessed May 29, 2008).
Bibliography 197
———. ‘‘Floor Statement: Federal Marriage Amendment.’’ June 5, 2006, http://

obama.senate.gov (accessed May 29, 2008).
———. ‘‘Presidential Exploratory Committee.’’ http://www.barackobama.com,
———. Steve Kroft, ‘‘Candidate Obama Feels ‘Sense of Urgency,’’’ 60 Minutes, February
11, 2007, http://www.il.proquest.com.ezproxy.denverlibrary.org (accessed May 9, 2008).
———. ‘‘Faith on Common Ground.’’ Washington Post, June 13, 2007, http://
www.washingtonpost.com (accessed June 13, 2007).
———. ‘‘Renewing American Leadership.’’ Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007, http://
www.foreignaffairs.org (accessed June 5, 2007).
———. ‘‘A New Beginning.’’ October 2, 2007, http://www.barackobama.com (accessed
October 3, 2007).
———. ‘‘Obama ‘08.’’ http://my.barackobama.com (accessed October 3, 2007).
———. ‘‘Major Speech on Iraq.’’ http://www.barackobama.com (accessed October 3,
2007).
———. ‘‘On the Issues.’’ http://www.barackobama.com (accessed December 20,
2007).
———. ‘‘Caucus Speech.’’ New York Times, January 3, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com
———. ‘‘Remarks: New Hampshire Primary.’’ January 8, 2008, http://thepage.time.
com (accessed January 9, 2008).
———. ‘‘Concession Speech.’’ January 9, 2008, http//thepage.time.com (accessed Jan-
uary 9, 2008).
———. ‘‘February 12 Speech.’’ New York Times, February 12, 2008, http://www.
nytimes.com (accessed February 14, 2008).
———. ‘‘A More Perfect Union.’’ March 18, 2008, http://www.barackobama.com
———. ‘‘Remarks: Indiana’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner, May 4, 2008.’’ http://www.
presidency.ucsb.edu (accessed July 8, 2008).
———. ‘‘Remarks: Raleigh, North Carolina, May 6, 2008.’’ http://www.presidency.
ucsb.edu (accessed July 8, 2008).
———. ‘‘Wesleyan Commencement Address, May 25, 2008.’’ WFSB.com, http://
www.wfsb.com (accessed May 25, 2008).
———. ‘‘Issues-Healthcare.’’ http://www.barackobama.com (accessed May 29, 2008).
———. ‘‘Remarks: St. Paul, Minnesota.’’ CQ Today Online, June 3, 2008, http://
www.cqpolitics.com (accessed June 4, 2008).
‘‘Obama: Voters to Judge Issues, Not Race.’’ Associated Press, March 13, 2008, http://
ap.google.com (accessed March 13, 2008).
‘‘Obama Well-Traveled in Brief Senate Career.’’ CNN.com, February 2, 2007, http://
www.cnn.com/2007/politics/02/15 (accessed February 2, 2007).
‘‘Obama Says He Is Emissary for Change.’’ Associated Press, July 5, 2007, http://
198 Bibliography
‘‘Obama Says Race Not an Issue in U.S. Election.’’ Reuters, April 27, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com (accessed April 27, 2008).
‘‘Obama Would Tax Wealthy to Pay for Universal Health Care.’’ CNN, May 30, 2007,
http://cnn.worldnews.com (accessed May 30, 2007).
‘‘Obamamania.’’ The Economist, October 28, 2006, 42.
‘‘Obamamania.’’ The Economist, January 12, 2008, 26.
‘‘Obama’s Moment.’’ The Economist, December 1, 2007, 46.
‘‘Obama’s Second Coming.’’ The Economist, November 6, 2004, 33.
‘‘On the Campaign Trail, Primary Colour.’’ The Economist, March 15, 2008, 38.
Page, Susan. ‘‘2008 Race Has the Face of a Changing America.’’ USA Today, March 12,
2007, 01a.
Pallasch, Abdon M. ‘‘Democratic Primary: Obama Urges Parents to Limit Children’s
Video Game Time.’’ Chicago Sun Times, May 1, 2008, http://www.suntimes.com
Pearson, Rick. ‘‘Obama on Obama.’’ Chicago Tribune, December 15, 2006, http://
www.chicagotribune.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
Pelofsky, Jeremy. ‘‘Sen. Obama Nears Clinton in Campaign Money Race.’’ Reuters,
April 4, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed April 4, 2007).
Pickler, Nedra. ‘‘Winfrey, Clinton Kin Draw Crowds of Iowa Women.’’ Denver Post,
December 9, 2007, 8a.
Pierce, Charles P. ‘‘The Cynic and Senator Obama.’’ Esquire, June 2008, 109, 114.
Pindell, James. ‘‘The Obama Factor.’’ Campaigns & Elections, December 2006, 98.
Pitney, John J., Jr. ‘‘George W. Obama.’’ National Review Online, February 28, 2007,
http://www.nationalreview.com (accessed February 28, 2007).
Pleming, Sue. ‘‘Rice Hails Obama Race Speech as ‘Important’ for U.S.’’ Reuters, March
28, 2008, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed March 28, 2008).
Powell, Michael. ‘‘Following Months of Criticism, Obama Quits His Church.’’ New
York Times, June 1, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed June 1, 2008).
Powell, Michael and Jeff Zeleny. ‘‘Lesson of Defeat: Obama Comes out Punching.’’
New York Times, March 6, 2008, A1.
‘‘Primary Colour.’’ The Economist, March 15, 2008, 38.
‘‘Profile: Barack Obama.’’ BBC News, January 12, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk (accessed
January 12, 2007).
‘‘Q & A with Senator Barack Obama.’’ Chicago Tribune, June 30, 2005, General Refer-
ence Center Gold. Gale (accessed May 20, 2008).
Quindlen, Anna. ‘‘A Leap Into the Possible.’’ Newsweek, August 9, 2004, 60.
Remnick, David. ‘‘Testing the Waters.’’ New Yorker, November 6, 2006, http://www.
newyorker.com (accessed May 30, 2008).
‘‘Republicans for Obama.’’ The Nation, February 25, 2008, http://www.thenation.com
‘‘Rice: Obama Candidacy Signals Progress.’’ Associated Press, February 25, 2007. http://
www.msnbc.msn.com (accessed February 26, 2007).
Bibliography 199
Rich, Frank. ‘‘Stop Him Before He Gets More Experience.’’ New York Times, February
11, 2007, 4.12.
Ripley, Amanda, David Thigpen, and Jeannie McCabe, ‘‘Obama’s Ascent.’’ Time,
November 15, 2004, 74–81.
Ripley, Amanda. ‘‘A Mother’s Story.’’ Time, April 21, 2008, 36, 39, 42.
Roach, Ronald. ‘‘Obama Rising.’’ Black Issues in Higher Education, 2004, 20–23.
Robinson, Eugene. ‘‘The Moment for this Messenger?’’ Washington Post, March 13,
2007. A.17.
Rogak, Lisa, ed. Barack Obama, In His Own Words. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2007.
Rohter, Larry. ‘‘Obama Says Real-Life Experience Trumps Rivals’ Foreign Policy Credits.’’
New York Times, April 10, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed April 10, 2008).
Royce, Marc. ‘‘Oprah Talks to Barack Obama.’’ O, the Oprah Magazine, November 2004, 248.
Rudin, Ken. ‘‘Obama or a History of Black Presidents of the U.S.’’ National Public
Radio, December 7, 2006, http://www.npr.com (accessed December 7, 2006).
Rutenberg, Jim. ‘‘Edwards Finally Chooses a Favorite.’’ New York Times, May 15, 2008, A.1.
Rutenberg, Jim, and Jeff Zeleny. ‘‘The Politics of the Lapel, When it Comes to
Obama.’’ New York Times, May 15, 2008, A.27.
Scharnberg, Kirsten, and Kim Barker. ‘‘The Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s
Youth.’’ Chicago Tribune, March 25, 2007, http://www.chicagotribune.com
Scheiber, Noam. ‘‘Race Against History.’’ New Republic, 230, 2004, 21–26.
Scott, Janney. ‘‘In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd.’’ New York Times,
July 30, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed July 30, 2007).
———. ‘‘In 2000, a Streetwise Veteran Schooled a Bold Young Obama.’’ New York
Times, September 9, 2007, 20.
———. ‘‘Memories of Obama in New York Differ.’’ New York Times, October 29,
2007, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed October 30, 2007).
———. ‘‘A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path.’’ New York Times, March
14, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed March 14, 2008).
———. ‘‘Obama Chooses Reconciliation Over Rancor.’’ New York Times, March 19,
2008, A.14.
Seelye, Katharine Q. ‘‘The Casey Endorsement.’’ New York Times, March 28, 2008,
Silverstein, Ken. ‘‘Barack Obama Inc.’’ Harper’s Magazine, November 2006, 31–40.
Sirota, David. ‘‘Mr. Obama Goes to Washington.’’ The Nation, June 26, 2006, http://
www.thenation.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
Slevin, Peter. ‘‘Obama Forged Political Mettle in Illinois Capitol.’’ Washington Post, Feb-
ruary 9, 2007, A01.
Spencer, Jim. ‘‘Obama Needs Inspiration to Get His Optimism Across.’’ Denver Post,
March 19, 2007, B-05.
Stengel, Richard. ‘‘Interview with Barack Obama.’’ Time, December 10, 2007, 40.
———. ‘‘Democracy Reborn.’’ Time, February 11, 2008, 6.
200 Bibliography
Sullivan, Andrew. ‘‘Goodbye to All That.’’ The Atlantic, December 2007, 46, 48–49.
Szep, Jason, and Ellen Wulfhorst. ‘‘Undecided Voters Give Obama Hope in 2008
Race.’’ Reuters, November 21, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed November
21, 2007).
Thomas, Evan, Holly Bailey, and Richard Wolffe ‘‘Only in America.’’ Newsweek, May
5, 2008, 28.
‘‘The Triumph of Hope Over Experience.’’ The Economist, December 15, 2007, 16–18.
Toomey, Shamus. ‘‘A Lot To Do With Race.’’ Chicago Sun Times, May 5, 2007, http://
www.suntimes.com (accessed May 18, 2007).
Trice, Dawn Turner. ‘‘Obama Unfazed by Foes’ Doubts on Race Question.’’ Chicago
Tribune, March 15, 2004. Quoted in John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This
Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008).
Tumulty, Karen. ‘‘The Candor Candidate.’’ Time, June 11, 2007, 33–34.
———. ‘‘The Real Running Mates.’’ Time, September 24, 2007, 35, 36.
———. ‘‘Out of Reach?’’ Time, October 8, 2007, 50, 52.
———. ‘‘Obama Finds His Moment.’’ Time, December 10, 2007, 41, 45.
‘‘Verbatim.’’ Time, June 16, 2008, 12.
Victor, Kirk. ‘‘In His Own Words: Barack Obama.’’ National Journal, March 18, 2006,
22–23.
———. ‘‘Reason to Smile.’’ National Journal, March 18, 2006, 18–27.
Von Drehle, David. ‘‘It’s Their Turn Now.’’ Time, February 11, 2008, 36, 48.
Wallace-Wells, Benjamin. ‘‘The Great Black Hope.’’ Washington Monthly, November
2004, 30–36.
———. ‘‘Obama’s Narrator.’’ New York Times Magazine, April 1, 2007, 30–35.
Walsh, Kenneth T. ‘‘Talkin’ ‘Bout My New Generation.’’ U.S. News & World Report,
January 8, 2007, 26–28.
———. ‘‘One-on-One with Barack Obama.’’ U.S. News & World Report, February 25,
2008, 44.
Walters, Ron. ‘‘Barack Obama and the Politics of Blackness.’’ Journal of Black Studies,
July 18, 2007, 13–14, 17. http://www.jbs.sagepubl.com (accessed July 18, 2007).
Wang, Beverly. ‘‘Michelle Obama Says Husband Has Moral Compass.’’ Associated Press,
May 7, 2007.
Weisskopf, Michael. ‘‘How He Learned to Win.’’ Time, May 19, 2008, 28–30.
‘‘Where’s the Beef?’’ The Economist, April 14, 2007, 36.
Whitesides, John. ‘‘Obama, Clinton Side with Anti-War Democrats.’’ Yahoo News, May
25, 2007, http://news.yahoo.com (accessed May 25, 2007).
Wikisource Contributors. ‘‘Barack Obama’s Iraq Speech.’’ Wikisource, The Free Library,
http://en.wikisource.org (accessed May 9, 2008).
Williams, Michael. ‘‘CBS4’s One-on-One Interview with Barack Obama.’’ CBS Televi-
sion Station Inc., May 23, 2008, http://cbs4.com (accessed May 26, 2008).
Wilson, John K. Barack Obama, This Improbable Quest (Boulder, CO: Paradigm Pub-
lishers, 2008).
Bibliography 201
Wolffe, Richard. ‘‘America Can Be a Force (for) Good in the World.’’ Newsweek, April
21, 2008, 24.
———. ‘‘Obama’s Sister Souljah Moment.’’ Newsweek, April 29, 2008, http://
www.newsweek.com (accessed April 29, 2008).
Wolffe, Richard, and Daren Briscoe. ‘‘Across the Divide.’’ Newsweek, July 16, 2007,
22–30, 26, 34.
Wolffe, Richard, and Evan Thomas. ‘‘Sit Back, Relax, Get Ready to Rumble.’’ News-
week, May 19, 2008, 21.
Wolffe, Richard, Jessica Ramirez, and Jeffrey Bartholet. ‘‘When Barry Became Barack.’’
Newsweek, March 22, 2008, http://www.newsweek.com (accessed March 24, 2008).
York, Byron. ‘‘Obama Madness,’’ National Review, November 20, 2006, 17–18.
‘‘Young Voters Favor Obama, Clinton.’’ CBS News, June 26, 2007, http://
www.cbsnews.com (accessed June 26, 2007).
Younge, Gary. ‘‘The Obama Effect.’’ The Nation, December 31, 2007, http://www.
thenation.com (accessed December 19, 2007).
Youngman, Sam, and Aaron Blake. ‘‘Obama’s Crime Votes are Fodder for Rivals.’’ The
Hill, March 13, 2007, http://www.thehill.com (accessed May 12, 2008).
Zeleny, Jeff ‘‘The First Time Around: Senator Obama’s Freshman Year,’’ Chicago
Tribune, December 24, 2005, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/
chi-051224obama,0,6232648.story (accessed May 20, 2008).
———. ‘‘Testing the Water: Obama Tests His Own Limits.’’ New York Times, Decem-
ber 24, 2006, 1.1.
———. ‘‘As Candidate, Obama Carves Antiwar Stance.’’ New York Times, February 26,
2007, http://www.newyorktimes.com (accessed February 26, 2007).
———. ‘‘Obama Highlights His War Opposition.’’ New York Times, October 2, 2007,
http://www.nytimes.com (accessed October 2, 2007).
———. ‘‘Obama Wins in Mississippi.’’ New York Times, March 12, 2008, http://
www.nytimes.com (accessed March 12, 2008).
———. ‘‘Assessing Race in America, Obama Calls Pastor Divisive.’’ New York Times,
March 18, 2008, A.1.
———. ‘‘Obama Leaves the Stage to Mix with His Skeptics.’’ New York Times, May 2,
2008, A.17.
Zeleny, Jeff, and John M. Broder. ‘‘On Eve of Primary, Clinton Ad Invokes bin Laden.’’
New York Times, April 22, 2008, A.23.
Zeleny, Jeff, and Katharine Q. Seelye. ‘‘West Virginia’s Byrd Supports Obama.’’ New
York Times, May 19, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com (accessed May 19, 2008).
Zorn, Eric. ‘‘Obama Critics Build Case on Faulty Premises.’’ Chicago Tribune, Decem-
ber 19, 2006. Quoted in John K. Wilson, Barack Obama, This Improbable Quest
(Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers, 2008).
Index
Abercrombie, Neil, 12 primary, 99; Obama as, 61, 92, 94;

academic achievement, 126–27 voters, 62, 94–95, 118, 155–56, 165,
activism, 4, 25, 132, 173; community, 167; voting for black president, 161;
27–35, 37, 49; online social networking, white men, 94–95
147; political leadership, 56 African American women, 75–76, 165
advisors, 49, 165; presidential campaign afterschool programs, 127
decision, 15, 16, 75 Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud, 121
advocacy groups, 32, 126 alliance building, 31, 80
affirmative action, 56, 128, 157 The Almanac of American Politics, 49
Afghanistan, 119, 138 Al-Qaeda, 119, 121, 134, 137, 138
Africa, 7 Alter, Jonathan, 94, 95, 159
African American community, 155; anti- ambition: America’s poverty, 35; father’s, 10;
Semitism in, 92; Chicago, 49; educa- Obama’s, 36–37, 66, 80, 146, 155; racial
tion responsibility, 126–27; history, 92; identity, 155–56
identity, 154; Obama in, 13, 27–28, America, 4, 38; hope for changing, 83; poli-
92, 105, 151, 163, 165, 174; sophisti- tics of change, 43, 82, 102; racial politics,
cation, 95; votes, 37; white America, 153; readiness for black president, 94–95,
104 153–54, 159, 165–66; renewal, 152, 177,
African American politicians, 61, 68, 179; transformation, 77, 84; Yes, we can,
132, 153 86–87. See also unifying the country
African American(s): affirmative action, American culture: change and race, 168;
128, 157; church traditions, 174; discouraging empathy, 35–36; racial
diminishing self, 162; Mississippi perceptions, 160–61
203
204 Index
American dream, 42–43, 84, 102, 154, bipartisan legislation, 50, 131
158; presidential election, 172–73 bipartisanship: Illinois senate, 50–53; Iraq
American Federation of State, County, war policy, 135; U.S. Senate political
and Municipal Employees, 158 culture, 65–66
American ideals, 116–17; grassroots biracial identity, 157–58, 165, 170
politics, 34; as promise, 116–17 bitterness, 99–100
American identity, 7, 11 black community. See African American
American leadership, 39–40; foreign community
perception, 120; promise, 120; blackness of Obama, 153–61,
renewal, 118, 137–38 160–61, 171–72
American politics, 13–14 black political organizers, 37, 162
American promise, 38, 43, 116–17; black politics, 132; 1960s struggles, 104,
Obama as definition of, 84 132, 159, 164
American values, 14, 37, 62, 95 black president, 103, 163–66, 168;
anger, 16, 107, 157; educational failure, American readiness for, 94, 153–54,
128–29 159
anti-Americanism, 104 black professionals, 167
anti-immigrant sentiments, 99–100 blogger community, 66
anti-Semitism, 92 blue-collar workers, 97, 99
anti-trade sentiments, 99 Blumenthal, Mark, 158
anti-war activism, 133–34, 136–37 border security, 131
armed forces, 134–35, 137–38 bottom-up ethos, 41
arrogance: Obama’s, 99; U.S. foreign Bouman, John, 53
policy, 97 Boynton, Robert, 171–72
Ashcroft, John, 63 ‘‘The Brand Called Obama,’’ 120, 148
attractiveness, 15–16 Brazile, Donna, 39, 62, 79, 132, 147, 165
The Audacity of Hope, 14–15, 54, 61, 75, bringing people together, 81–82, 158;
93, 156, 174 community organizing, 31–33;
Augustine-Herron, Loretta, 31 empathy deficit, 63; political transfor-
automobile industry, 117, 129–30 mation, 84; presidential campaign, 41.
Axelrod, David, 15, 41, 63, 68, 75, 82 See also unifying the country
bringing out best, 79
baby boomer generation, 84, 148 Briscoe, Sean, 167
Barack Obama, The Improbable Quest, 132 Brooks, David, 79, 86
Bardazzi, Marco, 80–81 budget of the United States, 117
Barry, Nancy, 14 Bullock, Tony, 39, 83
Bartholomew, David, 40 Bush, George W., 81, 117, 134, 157
Bartiromo, Maria, 123 Bush administration, 123, 134
BBC News, 134 Bush family name, 83
Berenson, Bradford, 157 Business for Diplomatic Action, 120
bigotry, 13, 173 Butts, Cassandra, 55
biofuels, 130 Byrd, Robert, 91
Index 205
California, 99 42–43, 82, 102; presidential

‘‘Call to Renewal,’’ 173, 179 elections, 18, 161–62; racial
call to serve, 25, 35–43, 155 attitudes, 168. See also generational
campaign approach, 78–79; change
bottom-up ethos, 41; against character, 11, 40, 95, 127
Fitzgerald, Peter, 57; generational charisma, 13, 67, 116; family
change, 146; listening, 90; low-key implications, 17; historic timing, 4,
delivery, 102–3 79; law school, 15–16; Obamamania,
campaign contributions. See fundraising 83–87; with voters, 66, 87
campaign debt, 57 Chavez, Hugo, 101
campaign finance. See public financing Cheney, Dick, 79, 102, 133
campaign process: experience measure- Chicago, 13, 14, 19, 27–34, 39, 41, 49,
ment, 101; family life, 63, 132, 133, 134, 145, 159–60,
20–21; presidential, 16–18. See also 174, 178
fundraising Chicago Reader, 33
campaign schedule, 102 Chicago Tribune, 56, 66–67
Campbell, Margaret, 89 childhood name, 11
Canary, Cynthia, 51 children: America’s promise to,
candidacy: other than white males, 116–17; college education, 146
94–95; perception, 76; as racial children’s nutrition, 177
progress, 168 Christianity, 90, 175, 176, 177
candidacy announcement, 36, 73, 76–77; churches, 29–30, 174
African American voter response, 155– citizen of the world, 40
56; generational politics, 79; Iraq war citizenship, 131
policy, 135; Wright, Jeremiah, 104 civil religion, 175
candidate debates, 101, 169 civil rights: leaders, 4; organizations, 27;
capability, 66, 82 policy, 131–32
capitalism, 123 civil rights lawyer, 129
career decisions, 27–31, 123; Illinois sen- civil rights movement, 30, 132; as
ate campaign, 49; presidential cam- baggage, 167; culmination, 168
paign, 15, 16, 75–76, 79 civil unions, 132–33
Carlson, Margaret, 134 climate change, 113
Carlson, Tucker, 132 Clinton, Bill, 54, 83, 89, 103,
Casey, Bob, 89, 148 136–37
Castro, Fidel, 101 Clinton, Hillary, 39, 40, 78, 90, 128,
catholic school, 12, 174 138, 162; African American voters, 95,
celebrity status, 39, 61–62, 76, 167; African American women, 76,
80–81, 134, 167 165; critique, 33; debates, 74, 169;
change: American liberalism, 86; diversity electability claims, 96–97; experience
without difference, 163–64; grassroots, argument, 33, 87–88, 97, 102, 119–
27, 33–34; healthcare structural, 20; foreign news coverage, 80; health
123–26; hope for, 83; political culture, care plan, 124; historic race, 3, 4; Iraq
206 Index
Clinton, Hillary (continued ) progressive pragmatism, 82; race

war, 136–37; Obama candidacy politicians, 163
decision, 76; polls lead, 102; confidence, 67; in elected leaders,
preparedness argument, 87–88; 115–16; people lacking, 80
primary campaign, 98–99; religious connectedness, 28–30, 62–63
life, 176; small town people, 100; consensus building, 31, 135
youthful voters, 145 constitutional law, 33, 56
Clinton administration, 124 constitution of the United States, 91,
Clinton campaign, 99, 100 131–32, 170–71
Clinton family name, 83 Corzine, John, 62
close-to-the-vest style, 50 Craig, Gregory, 67
Cobb, Jelani, 168 crime legislation, 53–54
Coburn, Tom, 65–66, 80 criminal justice, 177
Cohen, Roger, 146 criticism, 74, 93–109; of Clinton, Hillary,
college admission policies, 128 33; foreign policy experience, 119–20;
college education, 146 identity politics, 163–64; pundits, 98,
college students, 35–36, 40, 116, 126, 147 115; rhetoric over substance, 115
colorblindness, 163 Crocker, Ryan, 121
Columbia University, 27 Cromartie, Michael, 104
commander-in-chief test, 88–89, 98, 102 culture: American, 35–36, 160–61, 168;
common ground, 31, 81, 177 foreign policy, 122; multiplicity, 9;
community, 25; African American, 27– political, 42–43, 64–66
28, 37, 49, 62, 92, 95, 104, 126–27, cynicism, 17, 41, 66, 77, 78, 107, 169
151, 154; being part of, 27–28, 174;
blogger, 66; churches as changing, 29; Darmawan, Israella Pareira, 12
commitment to, 16; detachment from Davis, Angela, 163
religious, 174; faith and, 174–75; Dean, Howard, 147
inclusiveness, 31; membership and debate skills, 74
activism, 27–28; online, 177; shared decision making: economic policy, 123;
sacrifice and responsibility, 36–37; foreign policy, 122; political campaign,
social networking, 145, 147; Trinity 73–74, 76; political life, 15; state
United Church of Christ, 178; voting government, 133; voter, 169; war
about, 100; world, 91 authorization, 136, 138; Wright,
community of faith, 174–75, 177 Jeremiah affair, 104, 108, 179
community organizing, 25, 27–35, 49; cam- Democratic Leadership Council, 53, 83
paign bottom-up ethos, 41; civil rights, Democratic National Convention, 2004,
132; online social networking, 147 9, 35, 63, 73, 93, 153, 155, 175
community service, 41–42 Democratic National Convention, 2008,
community work, 31–33 20
competitiveness, 50, 52 Democratic Party, 3, 62–63, 118; narra-
compromise, 39–40; bipartisanship, 53; tive change, 78
blogger community frustration, 66; Democrats, 86, 87, 98
Index 207
demographics: millennial/baby boom gen- electoral politics, 33, 98–99, 145

erations, 84, 148; mix-race population, electorate, 94–101
166–67; primary campaigns, 97–99 elitism, 49, 51, 94, 99–100, 158
demonization of people, 157–58 Emanuel, Rahm, 61
Denver Post, 116 empathy, 35–36; deficit, 63
destiny, 10–11, 77; community service employer accountability, 131
impact, 41–42; race in American employment opportunities, 49
speech, 170; taking control of, 31 energy, 83, 84, 92, 116
Developing Communities Project (DCP), energy independence, 129
28, 31–33 energy policy, 123, 129–30, 138–39
Dillard, Kirk, 38, 50, 51 enthusiasm, 3–4, 160
disabled veterans, 65 entrepreneurship, 123
disagreement, 31, 36 environmental policy, 129–30
disarmament, 138 ethics, 88
diversity, 155, 158, 163–64, 166–67 ethnicity, 94–95
Dodd, Christopher, 137 evangelical Christianity, 176
domestic policy agenda: and Iraq war, Evans, Michael, 30
133, 136 evil, 176
door-to-door campaigning, 33–34 excitement, 76, 78, 79–80
dreams, 10–11, 77 exotic background, 7, 62, 158
Dreams from My Father, 93, 155 expectations, 68, 75, 153
dream ticket, 4, 88–89, 98 experience, 74, 101–3; African American,
drum major instinct, 37 156, 166, 171; candidacy lacking, 76;
Dunham, Madelyn (Toots), 9 capability, 82; Clinton, Hillary, 33,
Dunham, Stanley, 9, 12 87–88, 97, 119–20; community
Durbin, Dick, 162 organizing, 33–34; doing, 30–31;
Dyson, Michael Eric, 165–66 foreign policy, 79; good judgment, 40;
knowledge of world, 120–21; law
early childhood education, 117, 127, 177 professor, 36; leadership, 38; life and
economic conditions, 4, 93, 99 government, 85; measurement, 15; as
economic issues, 123 research assistant, 28; Senate service,
The Economist, 56, 78, 87, 99, 101, 103, 83; youth view, 147
124, 173
education, 77–78, 84; college costs, 146; Facebook, 147
early childhood, 117, 127, 177; Oba- faith, 9–10, 103–9, 151, 173–79
ma’s, 11, 12–14; policy, 126–29; racial faith community, 174
issue, 158–59 ‘‘Faith in Common Ground,’’ 177
Edwards, John, 91, 176 Falsani, Cathleen, 175–76
egoism, 53 Families USA, 126
electability, 94–101, 165 family healthcare, 124
elected leaders, 115–16 family life, 9; Kenyan, 10–11; mother,
election, divinely ordered, 68 11; Obama, Barack marriage, 15–21;
208 Index
family life (continued ) gender politics, 165

Sundays in, 19; U.S. Senate responsi- generational change, 77, 80, 87, 113;
bilities, 63–64; values, 90 racial politics, 169, 170, 172
Fast Company, 120 generational influence, 145–49
fatalism, 12 generational politics, 79, 84; 1960’s
father, 9–11, 21, 166, 170; absence, 155, counter backlash, 159; social justice
159; agnosticism, 175; education, 77–78 orthodoxies, 159–60
fatherhood, 19–21, 21, 63 Gerson, Michael, 91–92
Feingold, Russ, 62 Gillon, Steve, 161
Ferraro, Geraldine A., 99 global engagement, 118–19
fights, 80 globalization, 54
Finkelman, Paul, 171 God’s plans, 68
firearms crimes, 53 Goldberg, Jeffrey, 135
fiscal responsibility, 117 Gore, Al, 39
Fitzgerald, Peter, 57 governing, movement politics and, 39
flag pin controversy, 100–1 government, 92–93; confidence in, 80;
Florida, 92 cynicism about, 66; as mission, 115–16
Fluker, Walter Earl, 170 government service, 40
Foreign Affairs, 38, 137 Graham, Lawrence Otis, 94–95
foreign leaders, 101 grandfather, 9, 12, 174, 175
foreign news media, 80–81 grandmother, 9, 14–15, 105–6, 174;
foreign policy, 118–22, 149; Clinton, step-, 10–11, 77
Hillary, 88–89, 97; Iraq war as flawed, grassroots, 27; change and church mem-
133–34; meeting foreign leaders, 101; bership, 29–30; political activism,
mistakes and experience, 79; Obama’s 33–34; presidential candidacy, 77;
life in Indonesia, 121 social networking organizing, 147
Foreign Service, 149 Great Black Hope, 18, 153
foreign trade agreements, 125 Great White West, 104
Fox News Sunday, 172 Griffin, Patricia, 147
freedom, 37, 119 gun control, 131–32
Friends of the Parks, 32 guns, bitter people, 99–100
fuel-efficiency standards, 117, 129–30
fuel security, 130 Hamos, Julie, 52
fundamentalism, 175–76 hardship, 12
fundraising, 57, 64–65, 79, 95–96, 98, Harris-Lacewell, Melissa V., 160
102–3; Hopefund, 63; social network- Harvard Law Review, 156–57
ing, 147, 148 Harvard Law School, 30, 32
future, 13–14, 39–40, 82; determining of hate speech, 108
election, 172–73 Hawaii, 9, 12, 15, 19, 39, 155, 167
healthcare, 84, 116; promises, 51–52,
gasoline prices, 130 136; universal, 75, 92, 118,
gay marriage, 132–33 123–26
Index 209
‘‘healthcare for hybrids,’’ 117 Ifill, Gwen, 165

health insurance, 124 Ignatius, David, 154
heritage, 9–15 ‘‘I Have a Dream’’ speech, 105, 169, 170
Hession, Gregory, 92 Il, Kim Jung, 101
higher education, 128 illegal immigration, 131
high school, 13–14 Illinois, 47–57, 61, 65
Hildebrand, Steve, 147 Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, 55
Hispanics, 99, 161 Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, 51
historical experience, 92, 156, 166, 171 Illinois Environmental Council, 129
historic moment: being in, 81–82; Iowa Illinois Old State Capitol Building, 73,
Caucus, 85; Obama’s charisma, 4; 76–77
presidential candidacy decision, 79; Illinois state senate, 15, 19, 33, 34, 52,
race in America speech, 169–73 55, 56, 129
hope, 51–52, 116; achieving results, 103; immigrants, 155
change in America, 83; winning as rea- immigration, 113, 131
son, 82; Yes, we can, 86–87 inclusiveness: different arguments, 36;
Hopefund, 63 mother’s views, 13; ownership, 31
hope machine, 76 Indiana Primary, 42, 90, 99–100, 128–29
housing market, 123 individual rights, 55
The Huffington Post, 99 Indonesia, 7, 9, 11–12, 12–13, 167, 174
humanness, 18 inner-city poverty, 127
humility, 53–56, 62–63 inspiration, 92–93, 116; younger voters,
humor, 16, 67 145–46
Hurricane Katrina relief, 80 insurance companies, business model, 125
husband and father, 16, 19–21, 63 intelligence, 68
hybrid vehicles, 130 international perception, of United States,
97
idealism, 53 Internet, 79, 145
identity, 9; African American community, Iowa Caucus, 3, 34, 37, 40, 85–86, 97,
154; American, 7; biracial, 157–58, 164; African Americans, 156, 168;
165; blacks in America, 11; community race/gender issues, 164–65
membership, 27–28; crossed paths, 38– Iowa City, Iowa, 123
39; Indonesian experience, 12; Obama’s Iran, 119, 121–22
political, 62–63; political appeal, 160; Iraq war, 36, 65, 91, 102, 116, 118, 121–
race and faith, 151; struggle with, 13 22, 133–38; U.S. withdrawal from, 119
identity politics, 118, 169–73. See also Islam, 90, 122, 174, 175
race politics Islamic countries, 122
ideological gridlock, 96 Israel, 92
ideology, 39; African American Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 119
politicians, 153; economic policy, 123; issues, 101–3, 113–39; news coverage,
generational change, 159–60; politics 84–85; as opposed to racial preference,
of hope, 83 155, 157–58, 163–64, 168, 169
210 Index
Jackson, Jesse, 67 leadership, 31, 38, 56–57; American prin-

Jackson, Mahalia, 11 ciples, 37; campaign approach, 78;
Jacobs, Denny, 51–52 healthcare policy, 124–25;
Jarrett, Valerie, 37 partisanship, 66; qualities, 56–57;
Jefferson, Thomas, 14 visionary, 38
Jefferson-Jackson dinners, 40, 42 lead poisoning, 130
Jewish voters, 92 League of Conservation Voters, 130
job creation, 49 legislation: bipartisanship, 50–53;
Jones, Emil, Jr., 50, 57 compromise, 57; energy/
Jordan, Vernon, 33–34 environment, 130; success
judgment, 40, 81; Clinton, Hillary, expe- passing liberal, 55–56; veterans
rience, 87–89; Iraq war policy, 138; affairs, 65
values, 68 legislative responsibilities, 19
just cause, 176–77 legislative style, 50–53
justice, 37 Levin, Carl, 117
juvenile crime, 53 Lewis, John, 4
Li, Tadayoshi, 80
kairos moment, 170 liberalism, 52, 92; changing American,
Kaufman, Jonathan, 166–67 86; position-paper, 12
Kellman, Gerald, 28, 30 Lightfoot, Kimberly, 50
Kennedy, Caroline, 145 Lincoln, Abraham, 37, 84
Kennedy, Edward, 87, 131, 148 Link, Terry, 50
Kennedy, John F., 80, 81, 83, 101, 116 listening, 34, 102; campaign tactics, 90;
Kennedy, Robert F., 83, 116 community organizing, 30; foreign
Kenya, 10, 77 policy, 120; Illinois legislative process,
Kerry, John, 129 50; political debate, 51
King, Martin Luther, Jr., 11, 37, 105, Little, Amanda Griscom, 130
132, 154, 169, 170 lobbyists, 51, 52, 55, 64
Klein, Joe, 129–30 losing, in politics, 54, 57
Knox College, 5 Love, Alvin, 31–32
Kroft, Steven, 95, 160, 163 Luntz, Frank, 82, 84
labor standards, foreign trade agreements, MacFarquhar, Larissa, 55, 84

125 ‘‘Man of the Government,’’ 92–93
landslide, 73, 78 manufacturing jobs, 27
Lang, Robert, 155 marriage: gay, 133; Obama, Barack,
Latino voters, 118 family, 15–21
law enforcement, 55 Marshall, Will, 53–54, 83
law practice, 49 Martin, B. Herbert, 159–60
law professor, 36 Maryland Primary, 167
Lawrence, Mike, 51–52 McCain, John, 3, 39, 68, 74, 88, 90, 99,
Lazere, Cathy, 28 121, 131, 137
Index 211
McGrit, Ellen, 120 movement politics, 39; candidacy as, 77;

media attention: Obama in U.S. Senate, civil rights, 132; Project Vote, 47, 145
61. See also news media; social MoveOn.org, 137
networking Moyers, Bill, 145
media organization, 148 Murdoch, Rupert, 93
medical insurance, 125 Muslim leaders, 122
Meet the Press, 75, 101 MyBo, 147
mentoring programs, 127
mercury emissions, 130 name recognition, 39, 54
messiah, 17 Nargelenas, Laimutis, 55
middle class voters, 98 National Action Network (NAN), 30–31
Middle East diplomacy, 113, 119 National Constitution Center, 105,
Midwestern roots, 7 169–70, 178
Mikva, Abner, 55 national debt, 117
military force, 119 National Journal, 65
military service, 36–37 National Press Club, 107
millennial generation, 148 national security, 38, 122, 133–38; Dem-
Miller, Rich, 53 ocratic Party, 118; national service, 149
ministers, 31 national service, 40–42, 148–49
Minow, Newton, 80 negotiation, 65, 101
mission: armed forces, 135, 138; Nesbitt, Marty, 57
government as, 115–16 The New American, 92
Mississippi Primary, 98, 99 New Deal, 12
mistakes: duty of service, 36–37; father- New Hampshire primary, 3, 9,
hood, 21; father’s, 21; foreign policy 40–41, 86–87, 97, 128, 138
experience, 79; community organizing, new media, 147
32; policy issues, 20; presidential newness, 39
campaign, 73–74 news media: coverage, 84–85, 93–94,
mixed-race population, 166–67 145–47; excitement in, 79–80; foreign,
mobilization, of online tools, 147 80–81; national attention, 75;
moderation, 68 presidential campaign errors, 73–74
momentum, 82 Newsweek, 87, 95–96, 118, 163–64
Moore, Gwen, 62 New Yorker, 57, 135
moral compass, 175–76 New York Times, 93
Mormons, 161 Nixon, Richard, 14
mortgage rates, 123 No Child Left Behind, 127
Moss, Otis, 108 Noonan, Peggy, 79–80
mother, 7, 9, 10, 15, 27, 39, 166; baby North Carolina Primary, 43
boomers, 84; Obama’s African Ameri- nuclear weapons, 119, 122, 138
can identity, 151, 157; Indonesia,
11–12, 174; secular views, 174–75, Obama, Barack, 3–4; African American
177; values, 13–14 community, 27–28, 105, 156–57, 163,
212 Index
Obama, Barack (continued ) Owens, Johnnie, 32–33

165, 174; as American promise, 84; ownership: of country, 93; inclusive lead-
anti-doctrine candidate, 122; belief in, ership, 31; of process by people, 17
79; career decision, 27–31, 123; char-
acter, 11, 40; charisma, 4, 13, 17, 53, pain, 11–12
66, 67, 79, 87, 116; civil rights, 129, Pakistan, 119, 122
132; confidence, 67; conversion to parenting skills training, 127
Christianity, 174, 176, 177–79; expect- parents, 9–10
ations, 153; grandparents, 9, 12–15, Pariser, Eli, 137
77, 105–6, 151, 174–75; Great Black partisanship, 65–66, 83
Hope, 18; growing up, 9; humanness, party leaders, 75–76
18; humility, 53–56, 62–63; humor, passion, 17, 86; educational failure,
16, 67; identity, 7, 13, 61, 151, 155– 128–29
58, 163, 165; Illinois state senate, 47– patriotism, 90–91, 100–101
57; Islam and, 122, 174, 175; Kenyan Pattillo, Mary, 167
family, 10–11; marriage and family, 15– Peace Corps, 12, 40, 149
21, 63; Midwestern roots, 7; name, 10, Pelosi, Nancy, 162
11, 15, 39, 49, 54, 61–62, 64, 73, 83, Pennsylvania Primary, 148
90, 92, 107, 175; personal style, 50–53, people: bitterness, 99–100;
102–3; public service, 33; as rumored blue-collar workers, 97; decency, 37;
Muslim, 74, 90, 94; school experience, as deciding nomination, 83; demon-
12–14; stepfather, 11–12; U.S. Senator, ization, 157–58; as energized, 83; of
59–68. See also father; mother faith, 177; government management,
Obama, Hussein, 11 93; lacking confidence, 80;
Obama, Malia, 21 presidential campaign, 17–18;
Obama, Michelle, 15–21, 33, 38–39, 75, self-determination, 31; spirit and
76, 77, 108, 128–29, 154, 178; Secret voices, 40–41; wealthy, 42, 122, 124,
Service protection, 162 125; working, 74, 80; younger, 145–
Obama, Sarah Onyango, 10–11 46. See also bringing people together;
Obama, Sasha, 16 unifying the country; voters
‘‘The Obama Factor,’’ 101 Personal Democracy Forum, 148
Obamamania, 83–87 personal responsibility, 126–27
obligations, of service, 36 Petraeus, David, 121
Ohio Primary, 98, 99 Philadelphia,105, 169, 170
oil imports, 138–39 Pindell, James, 101
online community, 177 ‘‘Plan for a Healthy America,’’
online organizers, 147 123–26
opportunity, 116–17; affirmative action, pledged delegates, 88–89, 97, 98
128; American diversity, 158–59; Pledge of Allegiance, 90
national service, 148–49; for younger poker, 49, 50
people, 145–46 policy making: political ambition, 66;
Oprah Winfrey Show, 158 wife’s role in, 20
Index 213
political action committee, 63 power of government, 93

political career, 30; family, 19; Illinois pragmatism, 82; fuel-efficiency standards,
state senate start, 49–50; wife’s role in, 117; politics of hope, 83; racial recon-
15 ciliation, 155; state senate, 50–53
political culture: challenging, 42–43; ‘‘present’’ vote, 53
Washington’s, 64–66. See also Washing- presidency: Democratic narrative, 78;
ton politics implications for family, 20–21; prepar-
political debate, 51–52, 74, 172, 173; edness for, 81; racial attitudes, 164;
foreign policy, 120; healthcare policy, speculation on Obama, 93–94; sym-
123–24; racial identity, 154–55, 159, bolic weight of Obama, 102
160; religious discourse, 179 presidential campaign, 3, 71–109; chal-
political organizers, 37, 162 lenging Washington, 42; community
political philosophy, 37 organizing experience, 33–34; family,
political success, 82–83 16–19; groundbreaking candidacies in,
political system, as broken, 102 161
politicians: accountability, 32; African presidential candidacy: African American
American, 61, 68, 132, 153; commu- identity, 160; black, 153–54; decision,
nity organizing/service, 75–76, 79
33–34; mobilization of community, presidential exploratory committee, 33,
30; racial identity, 156–63; religion, 36
175–77 press coverage, 84–85, 93–94,
politics, 37, 49; American, 13–14; chang- 145–47; foreign, 80–81
ing smallness of, 77; community preventive medicine, 125
organizing, 27; divisiveness and cyni- primary campaigns, 3–4; foreign policy
cism, 41; healthcare and failed, 123– experience, 101–2; Illinois state senate,
24; hunger for different, 36; impact on 50, 56; Iraq war policy, 137; Republi-
family life, 16–19; just causes in, can voters, 145; U.S. Senate race, 61–
176–77; as mission, 93; as morally 62; winning, 82, 98–99, 169; Wright,
informed, 176–77; Obama, Michelle, Jeremiah, 104–5; youth vote, 147.
attitude, 17; Obama’s purpose in, See also name of specific state
116–17; public service, 33 Pritzker, Penny, 79
politics of division, 169 progressives, 66, 117; healthcare policy,
politics of hope, 83–87 124–25; political style, 50, 68, 88;
Pollack, Ron, 126 poverty of ambition, 35
Pollard, Alton, 170 progressive values, 66, 82
polls, 161; race/gender in Iowa campaign, Project Vote, 145
165; racial attitudes, 164; white popu- promise. See American promise
larity, 167; youth candidates, 145 promises: bipartisan alliances, 177;
popularity, 39; Iowa Caucus victory, 168; healthcare, 51–52, 125, 136; political
white and black support, 167 change, 102
popular vote, 88–89, 98–99 prophesy, 29
post-racial politics, 171 prosecutions, 53
214 Index
public financing, 74, 125 upbringing, 174–75; Wright, Jeremiah,

publicity, 73, 75 controversy, 103–9
public schools, 127–28 religious right, 151
public service, 32, 33, 35–43 Remnick, David, 134, 174
pundits, 74, 95; critique, 98, 115; dis- renewal: of America, 152, 177, 179;
counted by, 62, 83; divisiveness, 153; American leadership, 118, 137–38
dream ticket support, 4 Reno, Nevada, 37
Republicans, 66, 76, 87, 145; alliances,
race, 41, 83, 91, 151, 154–73; 80; Illinois state senate, 50; listening
electability, 94–101; Illinois state sen- to, 51
ate campaign, 49; Obama’s assessment responsibilities, 42; African American sen-
of, 105–7; voting decision factor, 99; ator, 63–64; education, 126–27; legis-
Wright, Jeremiah, firestorm on, 178– lative, 19, 57, 63–64; mutual, 36, 43,
79 175, 177; personal, 126–27; racial
‘‘Race in America,’’ 169–73 attitudes, 156; for war, 135
race politicians, 163 rhetorical skills, 74, 95, 107, 115
race politics, 163–64 Rice, Condoleezza, 161, 172
racial attitudes, 61; American society, Rice, Susan E., 121
160–61; black and white politicians, Rich, Frank, 135
153; historical experience, 92, 156, Riemer, Hans, 147
166, risk-taking: legislative, 52; personal safety,
171; Secret Service protection, 162 18–19
racial discrimination, affirmative action, Rocky Mountain News, 173
128 Romney, Mitt, 118
racial idealism, 154 Roosevelt, Franklin D., 170
racial inclusivity, 13 rootedness, 28
racial politics, 163–64 Rose, Charlie, 103
racial profiling, 51, 132 Rospars, Joe, 147
racial reconciliation, 154–55, 168 Rove, Karl, 66
racial stalemate, 169 Rumsfeld, Donald, 79, 102
racism, 103–4, 156, 160 rural America, 89
Rasieg, Andrew, 148 Rush, Bobby, 54–55, 57, 68, 163
Reagan, Ronald, 38, 87 Russert, Tim, 73
reconciliation, racial, 154–55, 168
Reich, Robert, 100 safety concerns, 18–19
Reinhard, Keith, 120, 148 salvation, 36
relationships in politics, 56 Samuel, Terence, 163
religion, 74, 173–79; bitter people, 99– San Francisco, 99
100; engagement with, 151; modern- Scheiber, Noam, 158
ism and Islam, 122; mother’s view on, Schieffer, Bob, 79
13; patriotism, 90; politics and, 175– school experience, 12–14
76; positive practice, 179; secular Scranton Times-Tribune, 123
Index 215
Second Amendment, 131–32 strength, 12, 25, 68, 99, 148

Secret Service protection, 162 students, call to service, 35–36
secular upbringing, 13, 174 Sullivan, Andrew, 84
self-assurance, 14 surrender policy, 137
selfishness, 37 Syria, 119
Senate campaign, 73, 93 Syverson, Dave, 52
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
120, 161 tax policy, 117, 123–25
separation of church and state, teaching, 56, 127–28
173–74, 175 temperament, 91
September 11, 2001, 104 terrorism, 107, 113, 119, 122, 138
service, 4; to country, 35, 36–37, 40; Texas primary, 98
experience, 32, 83, 85; life of, 13, 40– Thatcher, Margaret, 9
42; unity to greater good, Thompson, Fred, 118
148–49. See also national service; pub- Time, 40, 75, 102, 146–47
lic service tolerance, 13
Sharpton, Al, 30–31, 67 Toots, Madelyn, 9
Shomon, Dan, 51 torture, 102
single-payer system, 125 toughness, 56
Sirota, David, 81, 117, 124–25 town meetings, 63
60 Minutes, 95 transformation, 84
skepticism, 33 triangulation, 118
slavery, 171 Tribe, Laurence, 81
smallness of politics, 77 Trinity United Church of Christ, 19, 30,
small towns, 89, 99–100 103, 108, 174, 177–79
social justice, 104, 113, 177; generational Trotter, Donne, 54
politics, 159–60 Truman, Harry S., 81
social networking, 145, 147, 177 Tuke, Bob, 167
Soetoro, Lolo, 11–12 Tumulty, Karen, 102
Soetoro, Stanley Ann Dunham Obama,
11, 12–13, 14 unifying the country, 89, 91, 95–97, 155;
Soetoro-Ng, Maya, 12–13 racial relations, 105–7, 171; service to
Sorensen, Theodore, 83 greater good, 148–49
South Carolina, 168 United Automobile Workers, 129
Springfield, Illinois, 36, 73 United States, 9; arrogance, 97;
Stabenow, Debbie, 117 diplomatic listening by, 120; race rela-
staff, benefits of good, 64 tions in, 104–7; religious traditions,
star power. See celebrity status 175; Wright, Jeremiah, views on, 103,
state rights, 133 107. See also America
Steele, Shelby, 154 universal healthcare, 75, 92, 118, 123–26
stepfather, 11–12, 174 universalistic policy perspective, 162–63
step-grandmother, 10–11, 77 university admission policies, 128
216 Index
University of Chicago Law School, 56 64–65; experience, 85; flag pin and, 101;
University of Hawaii, 11, 12–13 political philosophy in, 37; taking over,
U.S. News & World Report, 83 116; youth view of experience with, 147
U.S. Senate, 59–68, 61; race against Fitzger- weakness, 12, 61
ald, Peter, 57; race against Rush, Bobby, wealthy, 42, 122, 124, 125
54–55, 57; war authorization, 135–36 welfare reform, 52, 53
Wesleyan University, 41–42
value judgments, 68 West, Cornel, 164, 171–72
values, 11–12, 12, 13, 90; whites, 94–95, 154; black professional
African-American politicians, 153; interaction with, 167; Obama
compromise, 39–40 candidacy, 165–66, 167; voters, 99
values-and-character education, 127 ‘‘Why Younger Voters Care Again,’’ 146–47
veterans affairs, 65, 101, 138 Will, George, 79, 102
vice presidency, 4, 21, 88–89, 98, 172 Will/Grundy County Annual
Victor, Kirk, 65 AFL-CIO Dinner, 157–58
Virginia Primary, 167 Williams, Michael J., 80
visionary leadership, 38 Williams, Paul L., 51
voter registration, 4, 132 Wilson, John K., 132
voters: African American, 37, 62, Winfrey, Oprah, 79, 85, 116
94–95, 118, 155–56, 165; campaign winning, 82, 168; dream ticket, 4,
schedule, 102; charisma, 66, 87, 116; 88–89, 98
first impressions, 107; Jewish, 92; Lat- Wisconsin, 82
ino, 118; middle class, 98; nominating Wolffe, Richard, 122
process preferences, 97–98; racial con- women, 14–15, 94–95, 99, 161; African
cerns, 96, 164–66; Republican, 145; American, 75–76, 165; Obama,
white, 99; women, 161; working class, Michelle, 18; voting for president, 161
98, 99, 170; young, 145–46 Women’s World Banking, 14
voting record, 19–20, 50, 129; as work approach, 31–33
‘‘present,’’ 53; value judgments, 68 working class voters, 98, 99, 170
voting rights, 132 working majority, 78
working people, 74, 80, 97, 99
Wallace-Wells, Benjamin, 153, 154 World view, 12, 13
Wall Street Journal, 167 Wright, Jeremiah A., Jr., 19, 30, 90,
Walsh, Larry, 52, 168 103–9, 173, 177, 178–79
Walters, Ronald, 155, 162–63
war, 37, 133–36 Yes, we can, 41, 61, 86–87
war on terror, 133–38 youth, 49, 127, 143–49; service,
Washington, D.C. Primary, 167 36–37, 40–42, 148–49
Washington, Harold, 30 YouTube, 105, 148
Washingtonian, 76
Washington politics, 35; challenging, 42,
82; changing, 77; cultural adjustment, Zorn, Eric, 66–67
About the Author
JOANN F. PRICE is a writing coach and author of Martha Stewart: A

Biography (2007) and Barack Obama: A Biography (2008).

Barack Obama

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Barack Obama

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Barack Obama

This page intentionally left blank

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be

The paper used in this book complies with the

‘‘In no other country on earth is my story even possible.’’1

this tall, lanky freshman senator from Illinois, something changed in

‘‘What’s interesting is how deeply American I feel, considering

‘‘My experience growing up in Indonesia or having family in

Until Barack Obama made his historic speech at the Democratic

I was raised as an Indonesia child and a Hawaiian child and as a

I’m clear about my own identity. I do think that I’ve become a

In his speech at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004,

give me an African name, Barack, or ‘blessed,’ believing that in a toler-

When Barack Obama visited his step-grandmother’s compound on his

surrounded by soldiers in dress uniform. At ﬁrst I did not understand

Barack Obama’s Kenyan uncle, Hussein Obama, said of Barack on his

I have wonderful memories of the place [Indonesia], but there’s no

Barack turned to his stepfather, Lolo, for guidance and instruction.

The poverty, the corruption, the constant scramble for security …

Neil Abercrombie, a Democratic congressman from Hawaii who

her. Barack stayed in Hawaii, choosing to remain with his grandparents

She wanted him to be with her. Although it was painful to be sepa-

Maya said of their mother, ‘‘She gave us a very broad understanding of

My mother saw religion as an impediment to broader values, like tol-

Barack’s half-sister, Maya, remembers Barack’s high school days: ‘‘He

It is a shame we have to worry so much about [grade point], but you

know that in Thomas Jefferson’s day, and right up through the

Barack Obama remembered his mother this way:

Many of Barack Obama’s mother’s friends have seen much of Ann in

Nancy Barry, former president of Women’s World Banking where Oba-

stability throughout my life, and my mother, whose loving spirit sus-

She felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we

David Axelrod, Obama’s long-time friend and presidential campaign

On Marriage and Family

Throughout their marriage, as Obama made decisions in his political

Leaning down to kiss Michelle goodbye in the morning, all I would

Mutual respect is important to Michelle. She says of her husband:

He’s my biggest cheerleader, as a mother, as a wife and as a career

After thoroughly discussing the implications of his running for the

The impact of a presidential race on his family concerned Barack;

Michelle had reservations about entering the campaign. She said,

Michelle, however, likes to remind audiences her husband is just a

I know that I can’t do it all. I cannot be involved in a presidential

On the campaign for the presidency, Michelle said,

After Barack Obama’s announcement that he would seek the presi-

I take my legislative responsibilities extremely seriously. In the midst of a

Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama arrives for an election

a recreational vehicle heading for another campaign stop, he added,

17. Scharnberg and Barker, ‘‘Not-So-Simple Story of Barack Obama’s Youth.’’

and Activism and Accepting

the Call to Serve

‘‘Organizing teaches as nothing else does the beauty and

In 1983, ready to graduate from Columbia University, Barack made the

On Community Organizing and Activism

On his decision to become a community activist, Barack said,

The idea of being part of a community, and helping build that

important to me, because I think I felt there was a strong gravita-

Just out of college and unable to ﬁnd a position as a community activ-

Sometimes, coming out of an interview with Japanese ﬁnanciers or

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama waves to the media

job where he worked with area churches to effect community changes.

I was, like many people, impressed by the degree to which he

I became a community organizer as a direct result of my work and